Theodore Lupin and the Untamed Secret
by melodrome
Summary: It's Teddy Lupin's first year at Hogwarts. As far as Teddy can tell, there aren't any teachers with two faces, and Hagrid doesn't seem to be raising dragons in his hut, but even before classes start, life at Hogwarts proves to remain very interesting.
1. On the Hogwarts Express

The small boy stopped just before the gate, holding his grandmother's hand tightly, and refused to budge another inch.

"Come on, dear," she said kindly, knowing this was going to happen. "It'll be all right, I promise."

"I don't think..." he said worriedly. "I don't think I want to go."

His grandmother crouched down in front of him and tweaked his nose, which stayed in the sideways position. "Do you know what? Your mum said the very same thing when I first took her onto the platform. She stopped right about here and wouldn't budge until your grandfather finally came and swooped her through the fence." His grandmother grinned with the memory. "Oh, how she screamed! I'm sure the Muggles thought we'd kidnapped her. It took a fair few memory charms to calm everyone down, that's for sure. But," she continued quickly, catching the look on her grandson's face, "as soon as we were through, she saw all the kids, her age and older, looking just as scared as she was, and she felt better immediately. By the time we got her on the train, she was smiling and laughing, already having made a couple of friends."

"But what if that doesn't happen?" he asked, nose still askew.

"It will, love, just you wait."

The boy shook his head, his hair turning a different colour with each shake. "Can't I wait another year?"

"Believe me, Theodore, as soon as you walk through that gate, you won't want to." She smiled at him one more time and stood up, offering her hand. "Come on." But he only stood in place, looking frightfully at the apparently solid gate. "You won't come willingly?" she asked with the hint of a smile on her face. "All right, then."

Suddenly Teddy felt a pair of hands under his arms lift him off the ground. He gasped and squealed, squirming around and trying to catch a glimpse of his attacker. The hands kept a firm grip on him, though; a familiar laugh reached Teddy's ears, and he went limp with the realization that he was doomed to be taken through the gate.

"That was mean!" he exclaimed once having been put down. He faced his grandmother and his godfather, both of whom were grinning from ear to ear.

"Was it?" Harry asked. "I found it rather funny."

But Teddy stood his ground, his hair turning a surly jet black and standing up on end to closely resemble his godfather's. He looked morosely up at the two people most responsible for his upbringing. Harry forced his face back into a sincere expression as he tousled his godson's hair. "You're going to do fine," he promised as he conjured Teddy's trunk and tawny owl out of thin air. "First thing I did when I got on the train was make friends with Ron. Second thing I did was make enemies with Malfoy. Third thing I did was decide that Hermione Granger was one of the most annoying people I'd ever met." Teddy's mouth dropped open. Harry smiled. "Anyway, the point is that all sorts can happen before you even get to Hogwarts. Our dads met on the train, and they were friends for the rest of their lives. So, believe me, the only things you really need to worry about in first year are exams, and teachers who secretly have two faces, and really, what are the odds of that happening twice?"

"Harry," Andromeda warned, but Teddy finally cracked a smile. Harry grinned and picked up Teddy's things, heading toward the Hogwarts Express.

"I'll put your things in an empty compartment. Be back in a moment," Harry said, leaving Teddy alone with his gran and ignoring the interested stares he got as he passed. Teddy watched him go; he caught the eye of a blonde girl looking as terrified as he felt, standing by her mother. Teddy gave her a timid wave, which she returned after a moment. The expression on her face eased, and Teddy felt his own stomach unclench a bit.

"See, what did I tell you?" Andromeda said, smiling. "You're going to have a wonderful first year, Theodore." She gave her grandson a hug. "I know you hate hearing this, but your parents--"

"Would be so proud, I know," he finished for her, but for once he didn't roll his eyes. He looked around at all the other students, bidding their parents goodbye, and couldn't help but feel a little sad.

"All right," came Harry's voice from beside him. The same girl Teddy had waved to dropped her jaw in recognition of the famous Harry Potter, and Teddy's sadness dissipated immediately to be replaced with pride. "You're in the last compartment, which is, interestingly enough, the same car I first met your dad in. It's actually an all-right compartment, it just sounds shabby because of its placement." Harry checked his watch with stars instead of numbers and noticed the train was about to leave. He smiled down at Teddy and gave him a hug, which Teddy returned. "Don't get yourself into too much trouble, all right? Most of the ghosts are all right; Peeves is a pest and the Bloody Baron looks as scary as he sounds, but Nearly Headless Nick is very welcoming. And, listen," Harry said, dropping his voice and looking Teddy straight in the eye. "If anything out of the ordinary happens, anything more extraordinary than usual that is, you send me an owl straight away. I don't care if it sounds crazy; the crazy things tend to be the truer in the end anyhow."

Teddy nodded soberly. Harry smiled and ruffled his hair before stepping back and watching him get on the train. The girl Teddy waved at before was saying a last goodbye to her parents just as Teddy passed; Teddy found his compartment and hugged his gran out the window again as the train started to move.

"Tea, Harry?" Teddy could hear her asking as the train gained speed.

"No thanks, Dromeda. I'd best get back, Ginny's probably climbing up the walls after Albus. He's the busiest three-year-old I've ever met," Harry responded, watching the train go. The whistle on the Hogwarts Express sounded again, and Teddy couldn't hear Harry's voice anymore. The wind was starting to make his eyes water, so he brought himself back into the compartment to see the girl from the station peering through the doorway.

"Can I sit in here?" she asked. She had a very delicate voice that sounded as though it might shatter if she ever shouted. Teddy smiled and nodded at her. She dragged her trunk behind her, and the two of them managed to shove it up into the storage compartment above their heads. "Thanks," she said, sitting across from him.

"No problem. I'm Teddy," he said, holding out his hand somewhat awkwardly. She grinned shyly and shook it.

"Julia," she said. The two of them seemed to have already run out of conversation, so they both stared out the window. Finally, after what appeared to be much contemplation, Julia burst out with, "was that your dad with you at the station?"

"Sort of," he said after a second. "He's my godfather. My parents died when I was a baby, so my gran and Harry pretty much raised me."

Julia's eyes became very wide. "I'm sorry about your parents, that's awful," she said in the same delicate voice. "How... what happened?"

"Battle of Hogwarts," he mumbled. She gasped and clasped a hand to her mouth.

"That's horrible, I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."

Teddy was somewhat shocked at Julia's strong reaction. "It's all right, really," he assured her. "I don't remember them. Gran and Harry are my family now."

"Do you ever get sad?"

"Sometimes. Like just now at the station. I saw everyone with their parents and I thought how cool it'd be to have my mum and dad see me off like that. But I'm grateful for what I have. Harry grew up with a lot less, and he turned out all right," he finished with a sly grin.

Julia returned the smile tentatively, seemingly deciding that losing his parents wasn't a sore subject for him. Even so, she changed the subject after a moment of silence. "Is it weird having _Harry Potter_" (her already naturally quiet voice dropped to a whisper at Harry's name) "as a godfather?"

Teddy laughed aloud. "God, yes," he said. "The stares are unbelievable. I really don't know how he got used to them, he doesn't even seem to notice anymore." By now the two of them had gotten over the uncomfortable introduction stage; Teddy went on to tell stories about his recent trip to Diagon Alley with Harry. They were both laughing when the compartment door slid open again.

"Oliver, I've found one!" a tiny girl shouted down the hall. Then she turned to the two occupants of the compartment and smiled sheepishly. "My friend and I were just kicked out of our compartment. Would it be all right if we shared with you?"

"Yeah, of course," Teddy said as the small girl with pigtails lugged her trunk into the room. "Here, let me help you," he started, standing, but the girl threw her trunk overhead with surprising ease, especially considering her size.

"Thanks, but I've got it," she said, grinning widely as a tall black boy entered the room. He looked sincerely flustered about all the goings-on. The brown haired girl introduced herself while Teddy helped the boy with his things. "I'm Winnie, and this is Oliver." Oliver waved vaguely and sat heavily down across from Winnie.

"I'm Teddy," he said, holding out his hand again to the two new occupants. He glanced over at Julia, but she had turned red and was staring at her feet. "This is Julia," he added, and she finally seemed to come to herself at the sound of her name, smiling shyly. "Who kicked you out of your compartment?"

"A bunch of cranky Slytherins," Winnie replied with contempt.

"How do you know they were Slytherins?" Teddy asked, trying to keep the annoyance at her obvious prejudice out of his voice.

"They said so. 'Oi, you two, get out of our compartment. We've sat in here since first year, go find a non-Slytherin area to sit in, you clearly don't have what it takes to be in the best house anyway', blah blah blah. Like I'd want to be in their stupid house."

"Slytherins aren't all bad," Teddy muttered, but Winnie didn't hear him.

"What are Slytherins?" Oliver nearly wailed. He looked very tired and very confused.

"Members of one of the houses at Hogwarts. We went over this, remember Oliver?"

Oliver made a noise that sounded very much as though he didn't remember at all.

"He's Muggle-born," she told Teddy and Julia. "Poor kid, someone did a dreadful job of explaining things to him. He's been asking me questions all morning. Not that I mind," Winnie added loudly as though Oliver had been about to argue. To Teddy, it looked like Oliver was ready to do was pass out.

A silence fell in the compartment. Teddy watched Julia curiously; she'd seemed so friendly when it was just the two of them, but since they were joined by these two, she hadn't said a single word. Her face was returning back to normal colour, however. A soft hoot from behind him interrupted the silence; Oliver nearly jumped twenty feet in the air. He had evidently not seen the tawny owl when he'd entered.

"Kira, I'm sorry," Teddy muttered, standing on his seat and opening the owl's cage. Harry had bought her for him last month while they were in Diagon Alley. Kira the owl soared around the cabin. Oliver watched her, fascinated, until Teddy opened a window and Kira flew out to hunt for her dinner.

"So--" Oliver started, eyes wide. "So you just... keep owls as pets?"

Teddy nodded and smiled kindly. "Mail is taken with owls in the wizarding world rather than by post. A lot of people have owls."

"I was wondering why I saw so many in cages at King's Cross," Oliver muttered. Teddy shot an amused look at Winnie, who grinned and shrugged. A second later, she frowned and squinted at Teddy.

"How did your nose get crooked like that?" she asked unabashedly.

Teddy widened his eyes in horror and felt his face with his hand. He tried hard not to blush as he shifted the soft tissue back into what was, he hoped, normal formation. Julia broke into silent giggles across from him, and Winnie stared in fascination. Oliver just threw his hands up as though to say, "what's next?"

"What?" Teddy asked Julia, red in the face but pleased that she seemed herself again.

"I really thought it was stuck that way," she said in her delicate voice before dissolving back into silent laughter. Winnie grinned at Julia before going back to ogling at Teddy.

"How did you do that?" she breathed after a moment.

"I'm a Metamorphmagus," he murmured embarrassedly. "I inherited it from my mum... I've been able to change my hair colour at will since birth, but I only found out I could do facial features a couple of months ago. I haven't... worked everything out yet," he admitted.

"_Really?_" Winnie said shrilly, obviously thrilled at this news. "I don't want to make you feel like a sideshow attraction or anything, but... can you do one?"

Teddy smiled sheepishly. He looked round at Julia, who had gotten her laughter under control and was watching him interestedly. Oliver, too, was looking at him with more interest than he'd shown since he'd gotten into the compartment. Taking a deep breath, Teddy looked at the ceiling at raised an eyebrow. He felt the warmth in his skull that told him his hair was turning to his desired colour. He looked in the window of the sliding door and saw his reflection staring back with lime green hair.

Winnie squealed and clapped in excitement; Julia was regarding him with wonder, and Oliver was grinning widely. Putting on a lop-sided grin, he let his hair return to its normal shade of mousy brown that he had also inherited from his mother and mussed it up nervously with his hand.

"Anything from the cart, dears?" asked a witch from the hallway, hair greying and cheeks dimpled. Teddy and Winnie jumped immediately up and bought themselves a term's supply of candy; Julia bought herself a single chocolate frog, and Oliver remained seated.

The compartment was filled with conversation and the rustle of candy wrappers for the rest of the journey; Julia interjected every so often with well-placed comments, and even Oliver began contributing once he felt confident about the subject at hand. Kira returned to the car and hooted softly, signalling that they were fast approaching the school. Pulling on his robes moments later, Teddy smiled with the realization that he had made three good friends before he had even gotten to the school, just as Harry had said would happen.


	2. The Sorting Hat's Problem

"Firs' years, follow me! Over here now, don't be shy." The great booming voice brought a smile to Teddy's face as he, Julia, Winnie and Oliver trouped toward the towering man, standing a good three feet above the other heads around him.

"Ooh, I can't _wait_!" Winnie said, jumping up and down excitedly. "My older sister Freida said that the food is really good, and the beds are really comfy..." her face suddenly took on a more nervous look, "and that the squid that lives in the lake always chooses one first year for its dinner, that's why we cross on the pond instead of in the ghost carriages..."

Oliver's eyes widened. "Forget this, I'll take the ghost carriages any day."

"...But I bet she was just saying that to get me out of her room. She and her boyfriend seemed sort of involved, I probably shouldn't have walked in on her in the first place."

All the same, Oliver turned on his heel and started to follow the rest of the students in the opposite direction. Winnie and Teddy both held onto the back of his robes to stop him from going very far.

"Oi, you lot in the back... wha's goin' on? Yeh're holdin' up the whole works, we got to get you across the pond an'--" the voice stopped short as he saw who it was holding onto Oliver. "Teddy! Good ter see yeh, Teddy, good ter see yeh."

"You too, Hagrid," Teddy said, smiling in his lop-sided way. "Sorry about the delay... we're just trying to stop Oliver from making a mad dash for it." But as Teddy spoke, Oliver had stopped trying to run in favour of staring at Hagrid with fascination.

"Ah, already made friends, have yeh? Knew yeh would," Hagrid said with a smile, but looked behind him somewhat nervously at the final two boats, both of which were fighting to get free of their tethers. "Listen, I've got to get you lot up to the castle, but come down for tea on Friday, won't yeh?"

"Sounds great," Teddy said. "See you then, Hagrid." The four of them piled into one of the boats, Oliver somewhat nervously. Hagrid squeezed into the last and addressed all the other boats, which were floating expectantly metres away, waiting for instructions.

"Ready... HO!" Hagrid shouted, and the boats all turned toward the towering castle, which Teddy just noticed for the first time. It was monumental; even in his wildest dreams, Teddy hadn't imagined the castle to be of such superfluous size. As the first years drifted toward the school, they could hear the laughter of the older students, heading up in their carriages. Teddy glanced over at Oliver and saw him looking wistfully at those who had been allowed to get to the school on solid ground. He thankfully remained distracted, for moments later, a giant tentacle rose in the air and swayed back and forth. Many kids took this as a wave and laughed. The tentacle withdrew beneath the surface just as Oliver broke out of his reverie.

"What? What's funny?" Oliver asked.

The other three in the boat looked at each other and silently decided not to say anything. "Didn't hear," Winnie said offhandedly. "Someone must've said something near the front."

"Heads down!" Hagrid shouted from behind them, and Teddy noticed those at the front of the procession duck out of the way of overhanging ivy. They seemed to disappear into the cliff upon which Hogwarts stood. The four of them ducked as they approached as well, and found themselves floating down an underground stream. Their boat turned a corner and they could see the other boats docking, one by one, upon a rocky shore. Theirs joined the rest, and Hagrid jumped out in front of the crowd. "Follow the light!" he shouted, and he carried a lantern high above everyone's heads, leading them up a passageway which soon led to the castle grounds and a nearby staircase. The first years huddled closely around one another as Hagrid reached a large wooden door and, after counting heads, knocked mightily.

The door creaked open. Teddy waited to see someone on the other side, but it seemed to have opened of its own accord. Teddy heard some of the kids behind him break into a babble, launching into theories on whether one of the famous Hogwarts' ghosts had opened the door.

"The firs' years, Professor Flitwick," Hagrid said, crouching down very low to hand the lantern to someone.

"Thank you, Hagrid," came a squeaky voice from the front of the crowd. Teddy stood on tiptoes and was finally able to see Professor Flitwick's head, which was at a lower level than that of some of the first years. Hagrid stepped aside and Professor Flitwick rocked backwards and forwards on his feet for a moment, apparently amused at the sight of the students in front of him. "All right, then. Follow me," he said finally, leading them in a trail through the Entrance Hall and off to a door to the right.

Teddy looked left just before they entered the room and saw hundreds of students sitting around large tables, chatting amongst themselves and drinking out of large, golden goblets. He was ushered into the room before he could get a better look inside.

"Well, well, welcome to Hogwarts," Flitwick squeaked, standing on top of a podium set up at the front of the room. "I imagine you're all fairly hungry, what with all these new sights to take in. The banquet will start shortly, but you will be sorted into your houses before that happens. The four houses of Hogwarts, which you will learn all about in History of Magic, are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin..."

Winnie leaned toward Teddy as Flitwick spoke. "I _do_ hope I'm in Gryffindor," she whispered nervously.

Teddy squirmed in his seat. He wasn't nearly as nervous as he imagined most of the other people in the room were, as he knew what to expect, but he'd been thinking a lot about the houses over the past month. They all had their pros and cons, but Teddy hoped desperately that he was in Gryffindor, too. "What house is your sister in?" he asked Winnie in a whisper to keep his mind off his nerves.

"She's a Ravenclaw," Winnie responded, "like my mum. It wouldn't at all be bad, being in Ravenclaw, but I want to do something different. What about you, Julia?" Winnie whispered past Teddy.

Julia looked up nervously at Professor Flitwick before responding in a barely-audible whisper. "My parents were both Gryffindors, but I don't think I'm brave enough," she admitted, turning pink.

"Nonsense," Teddy said immediately, barely even thinking about his words. "You never know how brave you really are. You might surprise yourself." Julia looked surprised and pleased, grinning shyly at him before returning her attention to Professor Flitwick.

"That was nice," Winnie said, smiling. Teddy realized she thought he'd said it out of kindness rather than out of truth, but he noticed that Flitwick was finishing his speech and didn't respond.

"So, smarten yourselves up, I'll be back in a jiff!" he said enthusiastically before hurrying through the door and closing it behind him.

"Oh hell," Oliver muttered, placing his hands over his face. He wasn't the only one staving off panic mode; more than half of the students tightly packed into the chamber had expressions of horror etched on their faces. Teddy shrugged off his own nerves and stared at his feet, forcing thoughts of Quiddich into his mind.

"Teddy. Oi, Teddy. You in there?" Winnie pushed him playfully and brought him back to full attention.

"Sorry," he muttered. "What did you say?"

"We're wondering what your lineage is. What house do you think you'll be in?"

Teddy shrugged, keeping a mild expression on his face and continuing to stare at his shoes. "My dad was in Gryffindor, my mum in Hufflepuff, my grandmother in Ravenclaw and most of her family in Slytherin. Could be in any of them, really."

Winnie stared. "Oh. Well. Wow. That's... really unusual, isn't it? I mean, usually families stick to one or two houses."

Teddy shrugged. "I guess."

Winnie frowned at her new friend. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing."

"You went from happy-go-lucky to moody in ten seconds flat. What's got into you?"

"I..." he started, but caught sight of Winnie's face and stopped short. "I dunno. Just nervous I guess."

Winnie raised her eyebrows and shrugged, looking around at the other kids. She was the only one in the room that didn't seem nervous whatsoever.

Julia put a hand on Teddy's arm. "You're not your godfather, and you're not your parents," she reminded him quietly, so no one else could hear. "You're you. Anything can happen, including a nice, boring school year." She smiled at him and patted his hand somewhat awkwardly before turning away again. Teddy felt a rush of affection for his friend, who already seemed to understand him better than most people ever had.

Flitwick re-entered the room and led them back through the entrance hall and into the large room Teddy had caught a glimpse of before. Students stared as they all filed in; Teddy suddenly felt a lot smaller than he had back in the chamber. Even sitting down, a lot of the people staring at him were taller than he was. He took the moment to notice that he and Winnie were the smallest in their class. Winnie, however, didn't seem at all intimidated; if anything, she was standing taller than usual. Julia and Oliver were both shrinking slightly under the attention of the masses, but Oliver was distracted intermittently by the ceiling, which showed a clear night sky.

The first years stopped in front of the teacher's table, facing the four house tables in front of them. Professor Flitwick rushed forward and placed a stool in front of the rather long line of first years, rushed back, and placed an old pointed hat carefully on the stool. Teddy smiled as he saw a hole open along the brim, and heard the first notes of the Sorting Hat's song:

"_I may appear to you to be  
A rather shabby sight,  
But, my dear, you'll see more if  
You look with all your might._

"_Sorting is what I do best,  
And dears, I'm sure you'll find  
That when you place me on your head,  
I'll find your strengths in kind._

"_Lately, battles I have seen,  
Where life and death, they blend;  
Hogwarts students fought and died,  
And hearts that broke won't mend._

"_But emphasis on strengths, they helped  
To end the battles quick;  
And in the end, school unity,  
Got most through thin and thick._

"_Although you live in separate homes,  
You have a common goal;  
The houses, distinct in their own ways,  
Will show you each your role._

"_Separate you are treasured, but  
Together you are strong.  
Remember that in times of stress; now,  
Let's see where you belong._"

The hat fell silent. Teddy glanced nervously around at the rest of the hall; students began applauding. He guessed that such a song was commonplace, for no one seemed to think that the hat's paranoia was out of place. Flitwick stepped forward moments later, procuring a roll of parchment and putting on a pair of small, round spectacles. "When I call your name, please step forward and try on the hat to be sorted," he squeaked hurriedly, clearing his throat before referencing the list. "Adeline, Monica!"

Monica rushed forward and placed the hat upon her head. She had barely put it on when it declared, "Hufflepuff!" Monica smiled with relief, replaced the hat on the stool, and scurried down to have her house greet her.

"Kind of an odd way to greet new students, isn't it?" Winnie said to Teddy under her breath as "Azteka, Helen" put on the hat. "'Loads of people have died here, but as long as you stick together, which might be a bit difficult since we're purposefully separating you, you'll probably be all right.' Charming."

Teddy didn't respond. He opted instead to watch Helen rush over to the Ravenclaw table with perhaps an attention a bit too rapt just to avoid continuing the conversation with Winnie. She took the hint and, raising her eyebrows, turned to talk calm into Oliver, who was muttering fervently to himself.

"Barnabb, Cameron" became a Ravenclaw, as did "Corbin, Trent" and "Cranich, Evan". The next three, "Ellory, Greta", "Ivor, David" and "Jones, Benjamin", all became Hufflepuffs.

"Hm," Teddy hummed in concentration, feeling his hair turn black almost of its own accord. "Josephson, Margaret" became a Ravenclaw before "Kennings, Isabel" was Sorted into Hufflepuff. Teddy suddenly felt very sure that something odd was going on; in ten students, no Gryffindors or Slytherins had been sorted. Now that Teddy looked a bit closer, the two outer tables looked a bit more sparse than did the middle two, where students were packed closely in.

"Kirkpatrick, Oliver!" Flitwick said, adjusting his spectacles that had been slipping down his nose. Oliver stood very abruptly and hastened forward, walking as though his legs wouldn't bend. Slowly, he sat down on the stool and placed the hat on his head.

Teddy waited and watched. The Hat took its time with Oliver; a full thirty seconds passed before the Hat drew breath and said, in a significantly less enthusiastic tone than it had taken previously, "Gryffindor."

The table at the far left of the hall nearly exploded with cheers. Oliver's limbs seemed to slacken as he replaced the hat on its stool and nearly sprinted to sit at the table, grinning broadly. Teddy, too, felt himself relax with the placement; at least now he knew it was possible to land in Gryffindor.

"Laverty, Kimberly" also sat on the stool for a good while; finally, the Hat proclaimed her rather dully to be in Slytherin. That table, too, seemed overenthusiastic in their greetings; they pounded loudly on the table with their goblets and started to chant her name. Kimberly handed the hat over to Timothy, her twin brother, who was also (eventually) sorted into Slytherin.

"Lupin, Theodore!" Flitwick squawked. Teddy jumped; he had forgotten that he still needed to be sorted in all his examination of the Hat's technique. He stood to find his knees rather shaky; he made it over to the stool, placed the hat upon his head, and took a deep breath.

_Ah,_ the Hat's voice came. _Son of Remus Lupin. My, he had a great mind. It was almost a shame not to have put him into Ravenclaw, but his courage outdid all his other attributes._

_Why are you putting everyone into Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw?_ Teddy felt his thought resonate through the Hat, though he had not intended to ask any such thing. No sooner had he thought it did his hair turn red; he forced it back into a neutral colour so as not to arouse suspicion with the other students when he took off the Hat. He'd learned to keep his abilities more or less quiet in case he ever needed to disguise himself.

_My dear boy, do not meddle in matters that don't concern you. There is a task at hand; we mustn't keep the others waiting._ Teddy fought to argue, but found his thoughts drowned out by the Hat's speech. _Now... ah, yes, you're a Black by--distant relation, and I wouldn't say you're particularly cunning, so Slytherin's out for you. And Hufflepuff... well, we cannot say that you're particularly loyal, can we? A shame, your mother made a wonderful Hufflepuff. You could be in Ravenclaw, but I don't think you'd suit the house terribly well. _The Hat expanded and contracted around his head, and Teddy realized that it was its version of a sigh. _Your father and your godfather both have obviously made an impression on you, rarely have I heard such cheek from a child your age._ The Hat trailed off for a moment, as though it was searching for an excuse not to put Teddy into Gryffindor. _I suppose there's no other option. So shall you be..._ "Gryffindor."

Teddy wrenched the Hat off his head and put it quickly down on the stool. Thrilled though he was to be in Gryffindor, he couldn't help but feel rather put down, for Harry and his father as well as himself. The Hat had been very eager to point out what Teddy _wasn't_. He tried to force the comments out of his mind, however, as he sat at his table next to Oliver and grinned at his fellow house-mates, all of whom were struggling to shake his hand or clap him on the back.

He missed the next two Sortings in all the excitement, but the celebrations from the Hufflepuff table told Teddy that he didn't need to guess to know what had happened. "Moss, Avery" also became a Hufflepuff, followed by another Ravenclaw, "Nomack, Erica". "Perry, June" became a Slytherin with the now usual reluctance from the Hat; "Persimmons, Matthew" and "Redwood, Flora" became Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, respectively, while "Rosenthal, Karen" became the first female Gryffindor of the year. "Siggafka, Sarah" went immediately into Hufflepuff before "Thompson, Riley" joined Teddy and Oliver at the Gryffindor table. A Slytherin, a Ravenclaw, and another Slytherin in the forms of "Traidon, Lloyd", "Underwood, Lauren" and "Vorkson, Vincent" preceded the Sorting of "Wilkinson, Maria" into Hufflepuff. Finally, only Julia and Winnie stood in front of the teachers' table.

"Wood, Winnifred!" Flitwick said, his voice becoming somewhat hoarse. Winnie strode confidently forward and placed the hat upon her head. After a few moments, the Hat exclaimed her to be in Gryffindor with a bit more zeal than it had expressed about the house the entire night, and she bounced happily down to her table, plopping herself down comfortably between Teddy and Oliver.

"Wright, Julia!" Flitwick deflated a bit with the reading of the last name and began rolling up the scroll. Julia, shaking more than anyone else had, sat down on the stool and put on the Hat delicately. Flitwick stood by, rocking happily back and forth on his feet again, waiting for the Hat to sort Julia so he could take it away. After a few moments, students began shifting behind Teddy. He could tell that everyone was eager to start the start-of-term feast; even Flitwick looked to be getting somewhat impatient. The shifting turned to murmurs; it suddenly occurred to Teddy that Julia's Sorting was taking far, far longer than anyone else's had. Flitwick's expression of impatience turned suddenly into one of concern as he fished out a pocketwatch and checked it. Finally, he leaned down over the Hat and began inspecting it from all sides.

Movement at the teacher's table caught Teddy's eye. Professor McGonagall had stood from her position mid-table and strode over to Julia, crouching down in front of her and speaking to her in a low voice Teddy couldn't make out. The murmurs from behind Teddy broke out into full-scale babble, but he paid no attention; he was watching Julia closely, and noticed a tear slide down her cheek. Finally, McGonagall stood tall in front of Julia and set off fireworks from the end of her wand, which brought eventual silence to the masses. Teddy moved from side to side in his seat trying to see what was happening to Julia, but McGonagall kept her arms majestically outstretched in what certainly seemed to be a deliberate attempt to keep her hidden from view.

"Welcome," she said in a voice that carried through the hall with little effort. "The start-of-banquet feast will begin shortly, but there are a few announcements beforehand.

"First of all, the Forbidden Forest is, as its name must surely suggest to at least some of you, _forbidden_. Any unauthorized students seen in the Forest will be subjected to immediate detention--though some of the creatures in the Forest will do much worse. It is in your best interest to stay well clear.

"Schedules will be handed out tomorrow morning, along with a list of banned and allowed Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Naturally, should any of the allowed items be used in a manner to interrupt class or in a malicious manner, they will immediately be confiscated, as will your Saturday afternoon, which will be spent in detention.

"Quiddich trials will be held before the end of the month. First years are allowed, although flying lessons will not begin until October. If you have not flown before, it is of strong recommendation that you wait until second year to make your name in Quiddich. If you wish to try out, contact the Quiddich captain in your house for confirmation of date.

"Finally, all Defence Against the Dark Arts courses are temporarily suspended. Treat each of these classes on your schedule as a free period until future notice.

"Now," McGonagall said, lowering her arms. As her robes floated back to where they belonged, Teddy could finally see that Julia, Flitwick and the hat had all disappeared. "Your food shall be arriving shortly. After the feast is over, all first years should find their way toward their house Prefects, who will lead them up to their common rooms." The professor cracked a very slight smile, and said finally, "_bon apetite_."

Teddy took the opportunity of chaos as everyone scrambled for food to search the hall fervently for any sign of Julia. He did not find it; he looked back up at the teachers' table and saw Professor McGonagall, still standing in front of the large, gold chair clearly intended for her, issuing a very quiet statement to the rest of the teachers. He peered at her lips, trying to read them, but she was muttering without moving her lips very much at all.

"Here," came a voice from beside Teddy. He jumped and turned to regard Winnie, who was holding a small ball of what looked like skin-coloured dough. He smiled fleetingly at her before flinging it out inconspicuously in front of him. It extended a good twenty feet, pooling on the floor before turning invisible moments later. He flung one end as far out as he could, careful not to hit anyone, and placed the other to his ear. Oliver and Winnie, eating slowly, watched him out of the corners of their eye.

"...can't understand it," McGonagall was saying, though her voice sounded tinny and faint. "The Hat has served us flawlessly well since the foundation of the school. Suddenly now it fails to recognize a student presence beneath it?"

"Minerva, it has clearly developed a prejudice," said a grey-haired witch with very pronounced crow's feet around her eyes and patches of dirt on her face. "Over the last couple of years, the emphasis on Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw has been undeniable, this year more than ever. Now, I'm not saying I mind having more Hufflepuffs to teach, but in light of this recent event... I think we need to look into getting the Hat replaced."

This suggestion was met with stunned silence from the other teachers. Eventually, the witch with the grey hair opened her mouth to speak again, but Teddy felt a wrenching from his ear; he was no longer holding the Extendable Ear. He turned around and found himself face-to-face with an apparently very cranky old man who was staring at Teddy as he wound something invisible around his hand.

"Well, well, well," he said with a sneer, eyeballing the black cat that had just jumped onto his shoulder. "Aren't we lucky, Mrs. Norris... term hasn't even begun yet, and already we get to issue a detention."

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**A/N: **_I feel like the chapter crash-landed a bit in terms of flow, but I had to end it somewhere, it was getting way too long. Anyway, here's an update. Sorry it took me so long; this is pretty much my first attempt at HP fanfiction, so I'm working hard to make sure it's accurate. All feedback is very welcome. :)_


	3. Filch's Grudge

**A/N:** _Where the last chapter was a bit too long, this chapter is a bit too short. I'm well through the next one, though, so hopefully another update will be prevolent. Character development all over the place in chapter four! Hopefully these annoying Author's Notes will go away soon. :)  
_

_I'm absolutely blown away by the response this story is getting. A million thanks to everyone!  
_

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Teddy, face to face with who must have been the infamous Filch, decided to play it dumb. "Sir?" 

"You can't 'sir' your way out of this one, boy. For one, you were eavesdropping on the teachers' table, and for two, you were doing it with an item on the list of banned objects." Filch sniffed the air and showed his awful, rotting teeth in what must have been a grin as he scratched his cat's neck. "I think I might even smell a double-detention."

"I... don't know what you're talking about, sir." Teddy was thinking fast. He could only pretend that he had no idea what was going on for so long; Filch did, after all, have the Extendable Ear in his hand. He could claim that he was a first year and that he hadn't even received said list yet, which was true, but it couldn't be denied that he was listening in on the teacher's table.

"No?" Filch said, sneering wider and brandishing the hand with the Extendable Ear wrapped around it. "Well, we'll just see what the Headmistress has to say... about..." The sneer faded from Filch's face as he regarded the hand holding the Extendable Ear curiously. He spread his fingers and felt around his palm; apparently he found something he didn't like, because his expression became angry and disappointed very suddenly. "What did you do, boy?" he asked loudly, grabbing Teddy by the front of his robes and pulling him nearly off the ground. "What did you do!"

The entire hall quieted at the sound of Filch's shouting. Teddy, eyes wide with fear, was wondering fleetingly what he _had_ done as he struggled against the grip of his attacker.

"_Mr. Filch_!" Professor McGonagall was walking very quickly towards them, her expression pure venom. "Put that student down immediately!"

Filch did as he was told, though Teddy was pushed backwards and had to be caught by Oliver and Winnie to avoid colliding with the table. "He... he did something, Headmistress, I had him cornered, I caught him listening--"

"_You do not ever lay your hands on a student, Mr. Filch_," she said in a low, nearly trembling voice. Teddy and McGonagall saw each other often; Harry's house was the Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, which was still in full swing despite the defeat of Voldemort. Never, through any of the countless emotional meetings, had Teddy ever seen her as angry as she was now. Although she was speaking very quietly, there was no doubt that the entire hall was listening. "You will go to your office and await my arrival. Do I make myself perfectly clear, Argus?"

Filch, too, was wearing a bitter expression; his voice was filled with incredible contempt as he said, "Yes, Headmistress." Shooting one last dirty look at Teddy, Filch left the room, Mrs. Norris sitting all the while on his shoulder.

Professor McGonagall took a deep breath as she stared after Filch, and finally turned to Teddy. Her expression was kind, although there remained an angry tick in her jaw. "Are you all right, Lupin?"

"Yes, Professor," he muttered. McGonagall nodded.

"I'll need you to come with me, please." She seemed to suddenly become aware of the silence through the hall; she turned to the other students. "You may resume your meal," she said with eyebrows raised, as though she thought they had been waiting for her permission. Noisily, the entire hall simultaneously turned back to their meal. It seemed that no one felt particularly inclined to tempt the Headmistress' temper at the moment.

Teddy got up from his place at the bench and followed McGonagall out of the hall. He tried to ignore the fleeting glances he earned as he passed. The pair walked through the Entrance Hall into the room that Teddy, along with all the other first years, had first been taken into. McGonagall shut the door, pointed her wand at the knob, and then addressed the room. "Nick?"

A ghost Teddy had seen fleetingly at the Gryffindor table floated through the wall. "Yes, Headmistress?"

"I have put a charm on the door, but I would be much obliged if you would stay lookout to ensure no one interrupts our... meeting," she said delicately. Nick removed his plume hat and bowed, floating back through the wall and disappearing from view.

McGonagall sat down and indicated that Teddy do the same. She regarded Teddy with raised eyebrows over her glasses. "The truth, Mr. Lupin."

"He caught me listening in on the conversation at the head table," he said quietly without hesitation. The two of them were on good enough terms to know that she would probably understand his actions; he was, after all, half raised by Harry Potter.

Her mouth moved silently for a moment before forming the word, "How?" Her tone was unexpectedly harsh; she had clearly not been expecting this answer.

"Extendable Ear," he muttered. He decided to leave out the part about Winnie being the source.

"Invisible, I assume."

"Yes, Professor."

McGonagall's expression was such that Teddy wouldn't have been surprised if sparks had begun to fly from her eyes. "And what, _exactly_, gave you the inspiration to do this?"

"I wanted to know what happened to Julia."

McGonagall blinked, but her expression didn't soften. "Do you know her?" she asked harshly.

"We met on the train. We were friends," he said simply. He watched McGonagall carefully, as though making sure she knew he was serious about finding out what happened to Julia. McGonagall seemed to be similarly evaluating Teddy.

"This kind of behaviour is absolutely unacceptable," she said quietly. "I expected better from you."

"I'm sorry, Professor." He thought fleetingly about adding that he'd have done the same given the situation again, but decided he was in enough trouble as it was for his first hour at Hogwarts and kept his mouth shut.

McGonagall stared. Finally she leaned back in her seat and spoke slowly and evenly. "I have Julia with Professor Flitwick in my office. If the Sorting Hat starts to respond, she will be Sorted. If not, however, I believe we'll place her in Hufflepuff until we can find an alternative. She is fine," McGonagall added loudly, seeing that Teddy had opened his mouth. Teddy shut it again, understanding that she didn't want to be interrupted. "Shaken, but fine. She is well enough to be in classes tomorrow, in any case." There was a pause. McGonagall sighed and softened her expression ever so softly. Teddy could see by the even, cold tone of voice, however, that she was not yet passed being angry with him. "I see that you have inherited your godfather's determination and loyalty to his friends, but am pleased to see that you have not done the same with his temper. You need to be very careful all the same, Lupin. You have been here an hour, and you are already skating on thin ice." Teddy nodded ashamedly, staring at his shoes. Finally, McGonagall seemed to relax almost completely at this show of remorse; her tone changed from the forced calm of anger to its normal, straightforward volume. "I have no choice but to give you detention, Lupin. If I _ever_ catch you eavesdropping on private conversations again, I will be forced to contact your grandmother and we will take action from there. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Professor."

"Good. You may join the feast..." McGonagall must have caught the expression on Teddy's face, because she added, "or you may eat here, if you wish."

"Yes, please," he breathed, hair turning red again at the prospect of going out amidst the stares. McGonagall waved her wand, and a plate appeared in front of Teddy covered in chicken and mashed potatoes. He immediately began forking potatoes into his mouth, not having realized how hungry he was out of worry for Julia.

"It would not be wise to get on the wrong side of Mr. Filch," McGonagall said quietly, looking at him candidly. Teddy understood that this was the first time she was treating him differently than she would other students; this was a warning for him alone. He stopped eating to listen. "He is a permanent fixture at Hogwarts. You need to watch your step very carefully where Filch is involved." Teddy stared and contemplated questions to ask, but decided against it based on her expression. He nodded; she gave him a curt nod of acknowledgement and stood abruptly. "I must return to the feast. When you have eaten your fill, you will return to the Great Hall in order to have a Prefect show you to your dormitory. I will contact you regarding your detention before the end of the week."

"Yes, Professor."

"And Lupin--" McGonagall said, her back toward him. "For future reference, Extendable Ears are on the banned items list. Perhaps you'd like to pass this information along to Miss Wood."

Teddy was stunned. He stared after McGonagall as she left the room and shut the door behind her. She had kept her back to him the whole time she made her exit, but Teddy could have sworn, as she turned her head ever so slightly, that he'd seen a smile on her face.


	4. The Ear's Trick

**A/N:**_ Not much action, just character stuff. Golly, the updates just keep coming, don't they:)_

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Teddy had joined the rest of the first years in the trek up to Gryffindor tower amidst stares and whispers, though he had refused to say a word to an unbearably inquisitive Winnie until they got into the common room. The prefects, however, had rushed Teddy, Oliver and Riley, the other male first-year Gryffindor, up one staircase and Winnie and Karen up another to show them their dorms as soon as they got there; Oliver and Teddy had gotten away as quickly as they could and sat in cushy chairs near the fire. Winnie reappeared moments later and hopped into the nearest chair. "So!" she said, staring expectantly at Teddy, grinning from ear to ear.

"So?" he asked nonchalantly, acting confused just to see how crazy she'd get.

"So?! Are you expelled?"

Teddy raised his eyebrows and turned to Oliver. "Funny how the prospect makes her so happy." Oliver grinned as Winnie punched Teddy playfully on the shoulder with surprising strength; he fell back against the chair and smiled slowly. "No. I have detention."

"Ha. With Filch?"

Teddy shook his head and smiled grimly. "I don't think McGonagall would do that to me. Why _are_ you so happy about my misfortune, anyway?"

Winnie grinned and shrugged. Oliver rubbed his eyes tiredly before asking, "Find out what happened to Julia?" 

Teddy nodded, his amused expression retreating into one of thought and concern. "The Hat just doesn't recognize her. I heard one of the teachers say so before Filch got the Ear. McGonagall said later that she'll be put in Hufflepuff until a replacement can Sort her."

"_Why_ do you know all the teachers?" Winnie asked abruptly. "You knew the really tall guy back at the dock, and the Headmistress knew who you were right away. I can't even remember her name... except that it sounds like someone who drank pumpkin juice a bit too fast... but you're spouting it out like you two are bosom pals."

Teddy shrugged. "She's at my godfather's house a lot," he muttered, looking at his shoes. "And he and Hagrid are friends from way back, I see a lot of him too." 

"Oh," Winnie said. "What, is your godfather like a teacher here?"

Teddy hesitated. Harry did tend to make periodic visits to lecture to Defence Against the Dark Arts classes, but he certainly wasn't employed here. "No, he's just... really involved in the wizarding world." Teddy didn't really feel the need to tell Winnie right then that his godfather was Harry Potter; he guessed she'd have a lot of questions that he felt too tired to deal with at the time. Besides, he didn't need any more attention than he already had gotten. He changed the subject. "Speaking of teachers, McGonagall knew it was your Ear."

Winnie's jaw fell. "She can't have! I even looked over at the teacher's table before I handed it to you, no one was looking!"

"Maybe a student told?" Oliver suggested.

"How would they be able to? She went straight from the head table to Teddy and then out of the room. No one had a chance to tell her anything!" Winnie deflated and looked forlornly at Teddy. "Am I in trouble?"

"No," he said, amused that she was no longer so eager about trouble. "I think she was smiling when she said it. She just asked me to let you know that Extendable Ears are banned items. Only she wasn't quite that direct about it," he added, frowning in thought. How _could_ she have known it was Winnie's Ear?

"Eh," she said, grinning again now that she knew she wasn't in trouble. "They're the newest kind anyway, they dissolve when any wizard of age gets hold of them. That's why Filch went so mental, by the way, it was gone after he held it for a while. Sorry about that, I wouldn't have given it to you if I'd known a _psychopath_ would catch hold of it."

Teddy smiled in amusement. "A fan of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, are you?" 

"The biggest," she grinned. "Shame Fred died though." She didn't notice Teddy's smile fade. "The things haven't been the same since. They're still genius, but they're not... you know... _in_genious." She shrugged. "There were a few times that I went by Fred instead of Winnie just so I could pretend that I knew George Weasley. I could hang out with his family, and meet his sister, and then maybe I could actually meet _Harry Potter_." Teddy shifted uncomfortably. This also escaped Winnie, who was busy giggling at her own memory. "I used to have pretend weddings with George Weasley and Harry Potter all the time growing up. I couldn't decide if I wanted to be married to the world's most brilliant prankster or the world's most brilliant Auror more."

Teddy didn't respond. Oliver saved him the trouble. "What's an Auror?" 

"Oh, you poor Muggle-born dear," Winnie said, turning toward him with extreme sympathy in her tone. "An Auror is a person who fights dark wizards. Even before Harry Potter was trained, he was widely considered to be the greatest fighter of evil alive. Well, you'll know... You-Know-Who?"

"I do?" Oliver asked confusedly.

"Do you?"

"Do I?"

"Do you what?"

"Know who."

"Who who?"

Oliver frowned at Winnie. "You said I know who."

"No, I said You-Know-Who."

"Right. Who do I know?"

"It's not... like that. It's just You-Know-Who."

"_Who?!_"

"Voldemort," Teddy said, both amused and annoyed. Immediately, the entirety of the half-full common room suspended their conversation to turn and stare at Teddy. Some looked around, terrified. "Not here," he clarified to the room quietly, blushing again. "They're... they're talking... I was just... nevermind." He shrank in his chair and looked distressedly at Winnie, who ogled at him. 

"You keep surprising me," she said slowly. "Why do you say his name?"

"I just grew up with someone who does," he muttered, shrugging and still struggling to force his hair to a dark colour.

"You know the name was cursed when he was around, right?" she asked, still speaking slowly.

"Yeah." He mentally urged Oliver to ask what all the hubbub was about, and sure enough--

"So who's... You-Know-Who, then?"

Winnie didn't remove her gaze from Teddy, who was still shrinking in his seat despite that most people had resumed their conversations and had stopped eyeballing him. "Do you want to tell him, or should I?" she asked in the same slow, calculating tone.

"You go ahead," he said, focusing on the ceiling. Eventually, she turned away from him and faced Oliver.

"There are Dark wizards, and then there's You-Know-Who. He tops them all. He's dreadful; he killed... a lot of people." Winnie paused and swallowed. Teddy noticed that she seemed terrified just to be talking about him. "One day, twenty-eight years ago, You-Know-Who walked into Harry Potter's house, blew his parents away like he blows everyone away, and tried to do the same to Harry. He is the only person to ever have survived a killing curse. You-Know-Who was almost dead (but not quite) because the spell ricocheted off Harry and hit him instead. Both of them disappeared completely from the wizarding world, except for mentions on the street of course, until a decade later, when Harry Potter came to Hogwarts. He then went on to meet You-Know-Who in different forms five times, starting in his first year. In what should have been his seventh year, he killed You-Know-Who right in this very castle." Winnie shook her head hard enough to make her pigtails slap her temples, but was smiling once she stopped. "Then Harry went on to train for Auror, even though he never actually finished school. He's_ lovely_," she added with a silly grin on her face.

Teddy resisted the temptation to fill them in on the full details. Putting it like that, he felt, sort of butchered Harry's character. He knew a lot of the wizarding world saw him as the man who defeated Voldemort and little else; Teddy, however, knew that Harry was, above all, concerned more for the people he was close to than he was for fighting evil. As far as Harry was concerned, Ginny and the kids, a group that included Teddy, came first. A smile played at Teddy's lips as Winnie continued after a moment with, "I think he should have pursued playing Seeker for England, though, he could have been brilliant." 

"Fond of Quidditch?" Teddy asked, happy for the opportunity to change the subject.

"Oh, yes," she gushed. "That's why I took so long upstairs, I was putting up my posters. Karen must think I'm a total nut," she grinned, jerking her head backward in indication of the nervous-looking redhead engaged in awkward conversation with Riley. Both of them kept glancing at the trio near the fire; they obviously felt weird being alone in their rooms.

"What do you play?" Teddy asked. He hastened a glance at Oliver and noticed the familiar look of frustrated confusion settle upon his features.

"Bit of everything, really. I like being in the game the most, Chaser or Keeper, but I do like hitting incoming bludgers with clubs, and being Seeker tends to require flying the fastest."

Teddy returned her grin; he was starting to understand that Winnie was very impulsive. "Trying out?" he asked after a moment.

"Definitely," she said, nodding. "You?"

"'Course," he offered, smiling wryly.

"Wonderful," she said, bouncing up and down in her chair. "Oh, wouldn't it be fantastic if we both got on the team? I mean, it's not likely, there's only ever been one first-year on the team and that was--"

"Harry," Teddy finished for her in a low voice.

"Potter," she said, imitating his tone. She evidently didn't feel comfortable referring to him by his first name alone; she fortunately didn't catch on that Teddy felt differently. "But it's possible, right?"

"I suppose," he agreed, grinning lopsidedly. It was a very nice prospect.

"What do you play?" she asked with sudden eagerness.

"Only Seeker," he said. "I'm told I'm nicely built for the position," he added delicately. Winnie nodded.

"I'll only try out for the other positions, then," she said, smiling kindly. Teddy was taken aback at this somewhat uncharacteristic selfless statement and grinned in reply.

The trio sat in silence a moment before Oliver jerked up rather suddenly. Teddy realized the poor bloke was falling asleep and suggested they all go to bed; the common room was nearly empty as it was, and the fire was starting to fade. Winnie agreed and bade goodnight to the boys; she and Karen hurried up one staircase while Teddy, Oliver and Riley trouped up the other. They changed and crawled into their four-posters without so much as another word; Teddy could shortly hear Oliver snoring slightly. As Teddy, too, drifted into a slumber, he realized he felt very different now than he had this morning; he was older than the little boy who hadn't wanted to get onto the platform.

Tomorrow he'd have to write a letter to Harry. He wouldn't _believe_ Teddy had already gotten himself into trouble.


	5. The Strike

Professor Everard was a tall, thin wizard with a crooked smile and shoulder-length dark hair. As soon as Winnie walked into the classroom, Teddy noticed a wide grin spread across her features.

"Welcome to Transfiguration," he said casually after counting heads. "I am Professor Everard. Just to err on the side of caution, you lot are first-year Gryffindors and Slytherins, right?" Ten heads nodded in sync. "Good," he said, nodding curtly. "I myself was a Slytherin" (the smile vanished from Winnie's face) "so I am very aware that this group should yield an... interesting dynamic, to say the least." He paused and looked at the crowd, which had already separated itself into Gryffindor- and Slytherin-based groups. His voice took on a different quality as he continued. "Be warned now that I am a fair man on principle, but I do not want to see any malicious intent toward any member of the opposing house, either within this classroom or outside it. First strike, I take fifty points from your house. Second, I assign you double detention. Three strikes and I send you to the Headmistress with a recommendation of suspension. And no, I do not bend the rules for my old house," he added, glancing at the whispering Slytherins, "so don't think you lot can get away with things the Gryffindors can't."

Despite his sombre warning, Everard turned out to be a rather fun teacher. Teddy walked out of the classroom an hour and a bit later with eight pages of complicated notes in hand, but Teddy had found the class very engaging and was actually sort of looking forward to doing his homework. He seemed to be the only one who felt that way, however.

"Oh my _God_," Oliver breathed exasperatedly after leaving the room, though he was sporting a slight smile. A good night's sleep seemed to have treated him well; he seemed much happier about where he was, and now greeted bewilderment as a challenge. "That was only the first class? The only thing I've ever done with a wand is make sparks come out the end, and that was by complete accident when I was buying it. How am I expected to know how to make a mothball into a marble by Wednesday?"

"He might be a looker, but he rides a bit heavy on the homework, doesn't he?" Winnie said with an uncharacteristic contemplative expression. "An entire roll of parchment on the importance of concentration when transfiguring by Wednesday. He does understand we have other classes, right?"

The trio walked into History of Magic and found the room already rather populated. Teddy scanned the room and noticed first years from every house. Professor Binns floated just off the ground at the front of the classroom, writing slowly on the board. Oliver regarded him with rather intense interest before Winnie dragged him away.

"Is he our _teacher_?" Oliver asked, fascinated.

"I assume so, he just wrote his name on the board," Winnie said, somewhat amused. The two of them turned and ran directly into Teddy, who had stopped dead in his tracks. Once they had regained their composure, Oliver and Winnie searched for what was had interested Teddy so much.

Julia was seated somewhat hunched over in a desk near the back. She was reading her History of Magic book with a sort of sad contemplation, as though she was resigned to do nothing else and may as well make the best of it. Teddy grinned at the sight of her and sat in the desk in front of her. "I don't know how you can read that with such concentration. I get about two pages in before I find myself to be very sleepy and flop over in my chair."

Julia looked up with an expression of disbelief on her face. As soon as Teddy finished talking, she leaned forward over her desk and threw her arms around his neck. He grinned and hugged her back, patting her back somewhat awkwardly. "I'm so glad to see you!" she whispered happily as she sat back down.

"You too," Teddy said seriously, looking at her with concern. "How are you?"

She gave a grim smile and shrugged. "No one will talk to me," she said, still whispering and glancing occasionally at the nearby group of Hufflepuffs. "I mean, I haven't tried to talk to them or anything, but... you know, I didn't have a lot of confidence _before_ I was the freak without a brain."

"Julia," Teddy started.

"Not my phrase," she whispered, looking at her desk. She shook her head and smiled bravely. "I share a room with six other girls, I heard them talking when I came in last night. Anyway, Professor McGonagall said it might be temporary if they can find... you know... something else to sort me."

Teddy watched her, furrowing his brow. Her wavy blonde hair was hanging limply, looking more than a little dishevelled in places. "Julia, did anyone _ask_ you what house you wanted to be in?" he asked in a low voice.

She shook her head. "No one gets a choice," she said definitively. "After I came in, my dormmates changed the subject pretty quick and... I guess a couple of the girls wanted to be in a different house, but... Hufflepuff's the default house. Hufflepuff was the one who took everyone in, no matter if they were brave, pure-blood, smart... no one's ever gotten a choice. Why should I be any different?"

"The Hat didn't see you, did it? Obviously you're already different." Teddy put on a lopsided smile which Julia hesitantly returned. "Well, if it doesn't change, we know the four of us have at least one class together," he said, looking around at Oliver and Winnie, who nodded. "And besides, you and I got to be friends in the space of fifteen minutes. Even if you do have to stay in Hufflepuff, it'll be all right. You'll make friends." Teddy grinned. Julia smiled shyly, and Teddy knew that she was still unsure. He didn't know what else to say on the subject, however; the four friends talked amongst themselves for a few minutes before they noticed Professor Binns coughing at the front of the room for attention.

"History of Magic is a magical course," Binns said monotonously once he finally achieved silence. "Learning about magic and where it came from is essential to any wizard or witch. It provides knowledge in a field that is not touched upon in many of the practical magicks... Transfiguration... Charms... Defence Against the Dark Arts..." Winnie widened her eyes and looked at Teddy as though to say, "is this guy actually this boring?" and propped her head up with her hand on the desk.

"This year, however, there has been a reform in the first-year curriculum," Binns droned on. "Whereas students before you have learned about Emeric the Evil and Uric the Oddball, you shall learn about the History of Hogwarts in its entirety." Binns laid on this last word a bit thick, as though he didn't quite believe in some of the things he was being asked to teach. "If you would please take out your volume of _Hogwarts: a History_ and turn to page four, we will begin with..."

By the time the class ended, Winnie was fast asleep. Oliver shook her awake amusedly as the other students filed out of the room. "Remember when I was cranky about Transfiguration? I take that back. I'd take Transfiguration over this class any day of the sodding week," she grumbled quietly as she shoved her book back in her bag.

Teddy chuckled and turned behind him. "What are you doing over lunch?" But what he saw was an empty desk; Julia wasn't there. Teddy frowned and checked under the desk just to be sure. "Odd. I didn't see her leave."

"She's sneaky, that Julia," Oliver said with a half-smile on his face.

"Did she sneak away on purpose?" Teddy asked Oliver, still somewhat concerned for his friend.

"Not sure," he said, shrugging. "I didn't see her go either. But she's the quiet type, she probably just slipped away before we could notice."

Teddy frowned but didn't pursue the matter. He, Oliver and Winnie left the room and traveled down towards the Great Hall for lunch. Oliver listened amusedly while Winnie went on groggily about how annoying the courses were turning out to be; Teddy smiled and gave the occasional "mm" or "uh-huh" at appropriate intervals, but found he wasn't especially listening. He was formulating plans to try and get Julia out of Hufflepuff.

Maybe if things went well in Charms, he'd be able to figure out how to make it seem as though the Hat really did acknowledge her and set her in Hufflepuff. Or, that one day he'd had to go to work with Harry while his gran was in hospital... Teddy had seen Harry use a memory charm from his place under the Invisibility Cloak. If he could learn to do that, maybe he could arrange it so that--

But Harry's words from that same day echoed in his head. "Never, not ever, do you use magic for your own personal means. It is not a manipulation tool. As soon as you compromise the integrity of someone else for your own gain, you become just as bad as any Death Eater."

So no to the memory charm, then.

Besides, Teddy thought to himself, he still hadn't done a single thing with his wand. It probably wasn't likely he'd know how to do a memory charm after his first day.

"So George Weasley sent me a marriage invitation by owl last night," Winnie was saying.

"Uh-huh," Teddy said distantly.

"I've accepted. We're getting married over Christmas."

"I'm very happy for you both," Teddy said in response, a slow grin spreading across his face. He glanced over at the pair beside him; Oliver was grinning broadly while trying not to laugh, and Winnie had an annoyed smile on her face.

"Decided to listen, have you?"

"I was listening the whole time," Teddy lied sheepishly.

"I asked you if you kept penguins at your house, and you said, 'yeah, sometimes'."

Teddy forced his hair to stay black as the blood rushed to his face, though he continued to grin. "I spend half my time at my godfather's house, is it a crime if he happens to own penguins?"

Winnie raised her eyebrows. "You spend half your time at your godfather's?"

But Teddy had stopped listening again. He narrowed his eyes and peered forward. A large crowd had formed in the entrance to the Great Hall; angry voices from students and annoyed voices from teachers trying to enforce peace echoed through the Entrance Hall. Suddenly, McGonagall swept forward from behind Teddy and went to calm the masses.

"Please," she said loudly, holding up a hand. The babble decreased in volume almost immediately. McGonagall looked rather distressed. "I understand that this is a most unfortunate occurrence, especially so early in the school year, but I assure you all that I am working with--with the authorities to bring this to an end as quickly as possible."

"Their lot don't have _authorities_," a particularly angry-looking boy near the front proclaimed. "Just put an end to it. Treat them like they ought to be treated. They're made to obey, just--"

"We do not treat any species as inferior at Hogwarts," McGonagall interrupted sternly. "If they feel that their working conditions are not ideal, then certainly we shall listen to their complaints and work toward an arrangement that everyone can agree with."

"My stomach isn't going to agree to anything," grumbled a seventh-year boy from the middle of the mob, "until it's been presented a plate piled high with pork chops." A murmur of agreement rippled through the crowd.

"We aren't going to _starve_ you, Freeman," McGonagall said, voice rising in anger. "We have already contacted Madam Rosmerta in Hogsmeade, she is preparing enough food for lunch and dinner for today at the least. It will not arrive for an hour; naturally, afternoon lessons have been pushed back to allow for this sudden change in schedule. Students now have an hour of free time, and I highly recommend you stop wasting it here. If you wish to have your regular meal plan return sooner rather than later, showing indignance will almost certainly hinder more than it will help."

"But--" A flurry of protests met McGonagall as soon as she finished speaking.

"Now really, that will suffice!" Sparks flew out of McGonagall's eyes, and voices fell silent once again. "I am perfectly aware that this is a serious matter. I have a representative from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement coming in this afternoon to ensure not only that the house-elves have their rights in tact, but also to ensure that the three hundred pupils in this school will have the same quality of food back on their plates as soon as possible. Until then, you may have to _suffer_ with Madam Rosmerta's cuisine, which is certainly more than passable and a fair bit pricier than usual as well." McGonagall paused; when she continued, her voice took a somewhat gentler tone. "This is just as much beyond our control as it is yours. It is my recommendation that you step back and allow us to handle it, or risk having the house-elves make good on their promise and permanently evacuate the premises.

"You may check back here in an hour, at which time the plates will indeed be filled to the brim with food, though the assortment of such may be somewhat more limited than you are accustomed to. Enjoy your afternoon," she finished coolly, turning toward the barred doors of the Great Hall. They burst open at the flick of her wand, and barred again behind her as she strode between the empty tables.

Teddy, Oliver and Winnie all exchanged significant looks. "What is going _on_ in this school?" Teddy wondered aloud. "First the Sorting Hat, then the harsh warning about Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry, and now the house-elves have gone on strike? It's like the whole school is going mental."

"You mean it's not usually like this?" Oliver asked, surprised.

"Not quite, no," Winnie said, frowning after McGonagall. Eventually the trio moved out of the Entrance Hall and into the Gryffindor common room, wondering what the afternoon would hold.  



	6. Hagrid's Mistake

**A/N:** _This turned into a pretty angsty chapter compiled mostly of character development. Hope it's all right._

_This is probably going to be the end of the every-day updates, at least for a while. I'm moving in a couple of weeks, so most of my time is probably going to be spent packing and such. I'm also going out of town for a few days coming up, so writing will definitely not happen as much as it has been._

_Thanks again for the huge amount of support! It's definitely an incentive.  
_

* * *

Life at Hogwarts calmed down rather significantly over the next few days, especially in comparison with the explosive first twenty-four hours. They were greeted in Charms Tuesday morning with a speech from Professor Flitwick, which was similar in content as had been Professor Everard's speech; it seemed that the Gryffindors had Charms with the Slytherins as well as Transfiguration. Teddy, Winnie and Oliver had Tuesday and Thursday afternoons off, for Defence Against the Dark Arts classes were still inexplicably suspended. This, along with Friday's already free afternoon, meant that lunch time usually signified the end of the day for the Gryffindors.

Wednesday morning was met with another History of Magic class, which gave Teddy the opportunity to speak with Julia a bit more. Julia had seemed wide-eyed and skittish throughout the entire conversation; Teddy expected she was having quite the experience in a house that didn't seem to acknowledge she was there. This made Teddy all the more determined to get her out of Hufflepuff, and he spent most of the class thinking up ways to help her, each one more unlikely than the last.

Transfiguration was easily Teddy's favourite course. Even Professor Everard had stated impressively, holding up the mothball that Teddy had at least managed to turn glassy and transparent, that he evidently had a natural talent for the subject. "Just like your mother," Everard had added under his breath so only Teddy could hear, which had made him turn such a shade of red that he had had to borrow Winnie's hat to cover his incorrigibly crimson hair.

As History of Magic was their only course together, Teddy didn't see much of Julia whatsoever until Friday morning, when he noticed her peer around the corner of the Potions dungeon and smile with relief at the sight of him, Oliver and Winnie sitting around a table. She scurried over, sank down into the empty seat and put her books clumsily down. "Was it me, or was the Charms homework--"

"Completely impossible?" Oliver interrupted. "Dear Julia, it wasn't you."

"Have you finished?" she asked desperately.

"No," the three of them replied in unison. "No particular hurry," Winnie added afterward. "We don't have Charms again until Tuesday."

"I've got it first thing Monday morning," Julia said gloomily, "and I can't for the life of me tell the difference between a swish and a flick. Every time I try, I get the name 'Flitwick' stuck in my head, and that confuses me more than anything else."

"Why?" Teddy asked, amused.

"It sounds like sort of a combination of 'flit' and 'swick' to me. Er... 'flick' and 'swish', I mean." She grinned sheepishly as her face reddened.

"I see what you mean," Oliver said, frowning pensively. "Flitwick, Flickswish, Swishflick, they're all the same, really. No wonder he got the job."

"Yes, I know, quiet down," Professor Wendall said absent-mindedly, speaking to no one in particular as she swept into the room. She wore her hair very short and had piercing eyes that gave you the impression you were being mechanically scanned. "Welcome to Potions, I'm Professor Wendall, take out your cauldrons, scales and textbooks and we'll get started."

Potions turned out to be a very fast-paced and complicated class. The Professor, though abrupt in her speech, was kind; when no one yielded the proper potion at the end of the class, she smiled, waved her wand once in the air to vanish the contents of everyone's cauldron, and said, "Now you know what to expect, study the same potion for homework and see you next week."

After lunch, Julia joined Teddy, Winnie and Oliver as they wandered out to the castle grounds. Winnie flopped down on a particularly green patch of grass and stared at the sky, limbs splayed every which way. "Thank Merlin it's the weekend," she breathed. "From this point forth, I am going to completely forget about my schoolwork."

Teddy grinned, sitting beside her. His hair adjusted to a more blonde colour to match the sun as he checked his watch. "I'd best head down to Hagrid's in a few minutes. You're all welcome to come if you wa--"

"'Course," Winnie said immediately. "I thought that was the plan all along."

Teddy grinned. "You guys coming too?" Oliver and Julia raised their eyebrows and each nodded with expressions that suggested that Teddy was crazy for even asking. The four of them promptly got up and sauntered down toward Hagrid's cabin.

Hagrid was outside fussing over his pumpkin patch. Early though it was in September, the pumpkins already had a hefty size to them; the vines were visibly creeping over one another, eager to find empty spaces in which to form new pumpkins. "Yeah, yer doin' well, aren't yeh?" he said fondly, patting one gently. "Yeh'll be grand by Hallowe'en, that's fer sure, McGonagall won' be disappointed."

"Hello, Hagrid," Teddy said lightly after exchanging amused glances with his friends. Hagrid jumped only slightly, but his landing was enough to send tremors through their feet. He turned with a shocked expression to Teddy.

"Don' sneak up on me like that," he said, though sounding perfectly cheerful to see them. "Coulda made me smash my pumpkins."

"Sorry," Teddy grinned. Hagrid clapped him on the shoulder and turned to the other three.

"Name's Hagrid," he boomed, holding out an enormous hand to each of them. They each introduced themselves in turn before Hagrid invited them into the single-room cabin. He held a large boarhound by the collar with one hand and put a brass kettle on the stove with the other as they sat hesitantly down around the table. "How's yer firs' week been?"

Everyone hesitated. "Busy," Teddy said finally.

"So I heard," Hagrid beamed. "McGonagall's got yer detention with me all set up, by the way."

"You're not serious?" A slow grin spread across Teddy's face.

"What, she hasn't told yeh yet? Bin a busy week for her too, I s'pose," he reasoned, placing a plate of rock cakes on the table. "Felt yer encounter with Filch was probably punishment enough, but knew she couldn't bend the rules just 'cause it was you. Sort of a happy compromise, innit?" The pair grinned at one another; Hagrid's expression quickly grew worried. "Don' tell her I told yeh that, though. We're both supposed to be stern authority figures, us teachers."

"Not a word," Teddy promised. He was careful not to look around at his friends; Julia had her head bowed, being the only one that knew Harry was his godfather and thus understanding the reference to any special attention; Oliver had his eyebrows raised, but decided it was probably a wizard thing he didn't quite understand yet. Winnie, on the other hand, was staring at him so pointedly that he could almost feel a pair of holes bore into his cheek. "Wish I knew why he acted like that, though," Teddy said hastily, hoping to get the subject away from himself.

"Ah, that's just Filch," Hagrid said, waving a great hand. "Had some issues with yer dad. Probably heard yer name at the Sorting an' made the connection."

"Because of who he was friends with?" Teddy prompted despite himself. This was not going in the direction he wanted it to, but he was curious.

"Well, partly, yeah," Hagrid said. "The lot of them were more'n a match for Filch and that ruddy cat of his. Filch couldn' stand it, and put them in detention for whatever he could catch them doin'. But," Hagrid went on, more slowly and delicately, not making eye contact, "Filch has prejudice toward some people that made yer dad an easy target."

"Oh." Teddy struggled to have that single syllable signify to Hagrid that he understood and also to give his friends the impression that he had no idea what Hagrid might mean. It worked, for the most part; Hagrid gave Teddy a fleeting smile as he poured tea, and he could feel the focus of Julia and Oliver's curiosity shift from Teddy to Hagrid. Winnie, on the other hand, continued to stare at Teddy with such intensity that he could actually feel a tingling sensation on his cheek where she was looking.

"Uh, Teddy, yer..." Hagrid said hesitantly, pointing at his face. "Yer face is... shifting."

Teddy slapped a hand to his face and felt a dent in his cheek. Winnie had actually succeeded in boring a hole in Teddy's face. This did not go unnoticed by Winnie; she looked positively amazed with herself before remembering that Teddy was a Metamorphmagus and slumped back down in her chair. Teddy rubbed his face hard; when he moved his hand away, his cheek was fully restored. "Cheers," he muttered to Hagrid, who nodded in return, sitting down.

"Hermione sends her regards," Hagrid said, fishing something out of his coat, "an' asked me to give yeh this."

"Oh, was she here?" he asked perhaps a bit too interestedly, trying to draw attention away from the parchment Hagrid was handing him with Harry's neat scrawl on the front as he shoved it hastily in his bag.

"Mm. Dealin' with the house-elf dispute." Teddy grinned knowingly. "No better candidate, eh? 'Course, soon as she went in, they threw her out. Literally. A bunch of 'em picked her up and threw her out the door. Said they wouldn' put up with a human being in their dwelling." Hagrid shook his head. "I like house-elves an' all, but they're an odd bunch, no doubt abou' that. Callin' Hogwarts their home but refusin' to work, when las' time I checked, working was what they liked to do. Very odd business, if yeh ask me."

Teddy raises his eyebrows. "You don't think--"

But Hagrid was already shaking his head. "Nothin' like tha'. A few members of the Order have already made sure, McGonagall included, and an Auror came to double-check. They're actin' of their own accord, all righ', but that doesn't mean they weren' convinced by someone looking to make Hogwarts a bit more... interestin'."

Teddy narrowed his eyes. "Do you know something, Hagrid?"

"If I did, I wouldn' be able to tell yeh," he said, looking at the ceiling. "It's bein' dealt with, don' worry. What you need to know is in Harry's letter, so--"

"Okay, that's it!" Winnie exclaimed, getting to her feet, eyes flashing. She pointed at Teddy so aggressively that he had to lean back to avoid being poked in the face. "First you know all the teachers--McGonagall, Hagrid, Flitwick--then there's a mention of the Order of the Phoenix, and..." Winnie's suspicious expression became punctuated with excitement. "And I remember something you said about McGonagall being at your godfather's house a lot... now you're in correspondence with a guy named Harry..." Winnie's eyes flashed with excitement as she stared at Teddy, whose hair went from blonde to black to red in the space of about thirty seconds. "Why didn't you tell me earlier that your godfather was Harry Potter?"

Teddy looked slowly at her, expression somewhere between accusatory and guilty. "Does it matter?"

Winnie's triumphant expression faltered. "I... of course not," she said, looking rather startled and sitting back down. "It's just... friends... tell each other these things, and... well... do you not trust us?"

"'Course I trust you, it wasn't a matter of that," Teddy clarified calmly. "Coming to school, meeting new people... if the first thing I said about myself is that I was half-raised by Harry Potter, how many people would get to know me for me rather than for Harry?"

"You didn' tell anyone?" Hagrid asked, blinking. Teddy couldn't tell if he was upset about this or not.

"He told me," Julia said in her small from her chair, glancing between Hagrid, Winnie and Teddy with wide eyes. "But we met at the station, and Mr. Potter was there to see him off. So I guess I noticed, really, more than he told."

"But yeh're... yeh're not _ashamed_," Hagrid asked with a quavering voice.

"Of course not," Teddy said, sharply enough for everyone to know he was insulted by such an accusation, but still speaking with a near-perfect calm. His hair, however, finally settled on jet black and, for the first time, he could feel his eyes turning colour. "I'm absolutely proud of who brought me up. But it's not normal by anyone's standards but my own. I don't have parents. They died at Hogwarts when I was a few months old. My grandmother and Harry are what I have. I'm not going to prance around feeling superior because someone famous raised me, because I'm no different because of it. To me, he's not famous. He's just Harry. I knew you'd react like this, so I decided to put it off until you knew me better and could handle the information. Last I checked, that wasn't a crime." He laid the last few words on with emphasis to show that he wasn't really impressed that Winnie thought this was such a big deal.

"Yeh are diff'rent 'cause he raised you," Hagrid said quietly after a long pause. "Yeh've inherited his modesty, an' that's a virtue all in itself."

They drank the rest of their tea in silence. Eventually the four of them bade goodbye to Hagrid and wandered back up to the castle. They started to walk through the Entrance Hall, but Teddy stopped short. "You go ahead," he said quietly to the other three. They exchanged glances, but agreed and ventured on ahead as he asked.

Teddy approached the nearest pillar curiously, running a hand over it. It was perfectly smooth, as though new, while the walls showed years and years of wear. Teddy looked around at the other pillars, which were seemingly holding up the ceiling. Some were similarly smooth, while others showed the slight flaws of age all the way up to the top.

The battle must have happened here.

Since he'd been old enough to understand that Death Eaters killed his parents, Teddy had had intense... fantasies, almost, about what the battle must have been like. In his imagination, flashes of light flew every which way; there were cries of pain and triumph at every turn. His parents stood back to back in the centre of a large room of stone, shooting spell after spell, Death Eaters flying through the pillars that ill-directed spells had chipped away at earlier in the battle, evil falling at the expertise of the magic his parents could yield. But eventually, one Death Eater was bound to get lucky, and then another; his parents collapsed, holding onto each other for dear life, which was no use because--

Teddy swallowed in an attempt to get rid of the lump that had formed in his throat and slid down against the nearest stone pillar, pulling out the letter Hagrid had given him as he did. He unfolded it slowly and read Harry's neat scrawl.

_Theodore Remus Lupin, detention before classes even start! What can I even say to that?_

Good work.  
I only approve, mind, because you were worried about your friend. Next time, neither McGonagall nor I will be quite so pleased. Watch yourself; Filch isn't a pleasant man even when you haven't done anything wrong.

"Cheers, I got that much myself," Teddy muttered to himself.

_Speaking of Julia, I've talked to McGonagall and she's looking into options, but if all else fails, she'll talk to Julia in a couple of weeks and something will be arranged. She's certainly proven herself as brave, so placement in Gryffindor is definitely an option, if that's what she wants. It might be best not to tell her this, though; if she does have to remain in Hufflepuff, it's probably best not to get her hopes up._

As for the prejudice you claim the Hat has developed, I'm sure it's entirely chalked up to the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry that you probably haven't fully encountered yet. Oddly enough, the fall of Voldemort actually seems to have increased the number of incidents between Gryffindors and Slytherins. The Hat figures that the fewer members of these houses there are, the fewer incidents will occur. The rivalry has sort of reached a plateau lately, so maybe it's right. I wouldn't worry about that. The Julia factor is definitely new, though.

I am warning you now, Teddy: do not engage with the Slytherins in any unfriendly business. The Death Eaters may not be gone, but they definitely aren't hiding in the form of students, so there is absolutely no reason to do so in the first place. Many Slytherins are top-notch people. I know I've told you this a lot of times, but it's as important as ever that you remember that. Do your best to keep your friends in check as well.

As for how McGonagall knew that it was Winnie's Ear: it sounds to me like she's picked up a few of Dumbledore's old tricks. Ha!

As for the food situation, the house-elves have apparently been convinced that they are being mistreated. Who has done the convincing remainss to be seen. The Imperius curse has been ruled out, though; I sent one of my team down just to make sure. I've got Kreacher on the inside, so I know more or less what's happening, although he is getting to be rather old so I'm not sure the bits about Winky kicking the other elves' shins are particularly important. We've got a couple of leads though so hopefully the situation will be solved soon. It's odd; much as I respect house-elves, they do tend to have a pretty much singular interest in working, so whoever convinced them to strike must have some pretty strong incentive.

Albus keeps pestering me to tell you that he thinks you should come back and live here, as it's been since July and he already forgets how to tie his shoes the way you_ taught him._

Take care and stay out of trouble. Write me if you need anything, as ever.

Love from  
Harry, Ginny, James, Albus and Lily

Teddy read the letter over a few times before leaning back against the pillar and closing his eyes. Harry was indeed responsible for many of Teddy's traits, but he was a godfather. He was not quite a replacement. Teddy knew that Harry understood this as well; there was a slight distance between the two of them that Teddy knew didn't exist between Harry and his biological children.

"I see a lot of Remus in him," Teddy had overheard Harry say to Ginny one night when Teddy had come down for a glass of water, "and I can't change that, nor would I want to if I could. Sirius was a good part of my life, but he was never quite my father. It's the same way with Teddy and I. I love him like a son, I do, and if it had been up to me, I'd have adopted him instead of Dromeda, but she is his blood. His father lives on in _him_, not in me, and I know that we'll never quite be able to have the same relationship he and Remus would have."

Teddy had only been five, and the words had heavily upset him at the time, but it was true. Harry was his godfather. He was the closest thing to his father as he had, in a lot of respects...  
_  
_

_But you only really feel him when you look in the mirror_, came a voice from the back of Teddy's mind.

Teddy stood and looked around the hall again, taking a deep breath.

His godfather had defeated Voldemort in this very school.

His parents had died trying to help him defeat Voldemort in this very school.

He knew Voldemort was responsible, not Harry.

Honest, he did.

When he got back to the Gryffindor common room, Teddy threw the letter into the fire and decided to go to bed early.


	7. Quidditch Tryouts

**A/N:** _This was a very weird chapter to write. I read it over about a dozen times trying to figure out how I could make it shorter and clearer, but it just kept getting longer and more complex. It's a bit jumpy; in some ways, I think a bit too much happens, but I've been writing for the past five hours or so, so that might just be the crazies talking. Tell me what you think. :)  
_

* * *

The next two weeks seemed to fly by. History of Magic continued to be the class in which to daydream; Teddy was getting more seriously distracted now by his near obsession with Transfiguration and the upcoming Quidditch tryouts. As a result, he quickly became the best student in Transfiguration and among the worst in History of Magic, which Teddy was perfectly okay with... until it came to homework.

_Harry taught me all I'll ever really need to know anyway_, was the excuse he kept repeating to himself as he frowned down at the latest impossible essay, his hair the deepest black of concentration.

Oliver, on the other hand, was having the opposite reaction; he was doing wonderfully at History of Magic and Herbology, while his marks in courses that involved wandwork suffered in comparison. It wasn't that he was particularly bad at Charms and Transfiguration; he did better than some of the Slytherins simply because he paid such close attention to what he was supposed to be doing while they goofed off in the other corner of the room; but he really never seemed to develop the knack for waving the wand about in such a fashion to yield the desired result. He took it jovially most of the time, but finally lost his temper when Teddy perfectly transformed a Muggle traffic cone into a witch's hat in his second try. 

"Who needs that many hats? No one! If you need a hat so badly, go to the store and_ buy_ one," Oliver said after Teddy had done his third one, jabbing him in the chest with his wand. Teddy promptly grew leafy tendrils out of his chest and had to be escorted to the Hospital Wing by Winnie, who was nearly hysterical with laughter.

"Just because you're good at everything," Teddy muttered, his hair the now familiar shade of red as he carried the plants protruding from his ribcage in his arms. 

Winnie was, indeed, thriving in nearly every subject. Despite her knack for not paying attention, she always got her assignments done, getting good passing marks in every class. Even in History of Magic, the class in which she usually caught up on her beauty sleep, her mark was far better than Teddy's. She wasn't necessarily best in the grade, but by no means was she doing poorly in any of her courses.

Julia, however, was struggling. Potions was the only course that seemed to strike her fancy; she always yielded the best potion out of the four of them, and it was often the best in the class. Professor Wendall always muttered run-on compliments to Julia that no other student seemed to receive. In all other courses, though, Julia was a mess. Hufflepuff was apparently still not treating her well, though she refused to talk about it; she came to nearly every class looking distressed or, sometimes, actually afraid.

The Quidditch tryouts were scheduled for the third Friday of term. Teddy walked into the common room that morning and saw Winnie sitting in a cushy chair by the fire, wearing Puddlemore United Quidditch robes and reading the latest issue of _Which Broomstick_. It was very apparent to Teddy that Winnie had been up for hours. As he walked in, she rose excitedly from her seat and hugged him very tightly without a word.

"Easy, I'm not feeling terribly well," he muttered weakly into her robes. 

"Oh, don't worry, it's just nerves," she said, letting go of him and wringing her hands as they heard the portrait swing open. "It's all right, there's still Potions before..."

"And breakfast," Teddy said, grinning. "And lunch. You've got to eat, okay?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, sure. What kind of broom do you think the school will let us use? I use the latest Shooting Star at home, but I'm not sure if they'll have that here..."

"Hey," Oliver said from the bottom of the dormitory stairs. Teddy turned to greet him, but Oliver wasn't looking at either of Teddy or Winnie; he followed Oliver's line of sight and saw Professor McGonagall walking into the common room, followed closely by--

"Julia?"

Julia peered around the common room and raised her hand in a hesitant wave. Teddy grinned at her and glanced at Professor McGonagall, who was also wearing a rare smile.

"I received an owl from your godfather this morning suggesting that we simply ask Ms. Wright which house she wanted to be in, as the attention she was getting in Hufflepuff was clearly... less than adequate," McGonagall said to Teddy, "so here we are."

"You're here? Like, here, here?" Oliver asked Julia incredulously.

Julia nodded and smiled shyly. Winnie raised her eyebrows.

"I was wondering why there was a new bed in our room," she said, smiling. "Good to see you, Julia."

"I imagine I can trust you three to show Ms. Wright around, then?" McGonagall asked. Teddy noticed that she looked very tired.

"Yes, Professor," Teddy said immediately. McGonagall nodded, informed Julia that her trunk and other belongings would be taken into her room during class, and strode hurriedly from the common room.

Teddy grinned lopsidedly at Julia. "So, this is the Gryffindor common room, up there are your quarters, and it's ruddy fantastic to have you here. Good morning, how are you?"

Julia grinned and bounced slightly on the balls of her feet. "I'm good," she said, though the expression on her face suggested that this was an understatement. "I like that people talk to me here, I walked in and Riley actually said hi on his way down to breakfast."

"So everyone was still ignoring you in Hufflepuff, huh?"

"They talked when they had to. I asked for the potatoes at dinner the other night and one boy handed them to me and I said thanks and he said you're welcome, but that was pretty much the extent of our conversation. It was never mean, just..."

"Demoralizing?" Teddy suggested.

Julia nodded. "I clearly wasn't a Hufflepuff. They're all outgoing and proud and I'm quiet and... modest, I guess. Professor McGonagall and I talked about placing me in Ravenclaw, but then she took a look at my transcript and asked delicately if I wouldn't rather be with my friends. She's a bit off today," Julia added in a whisper. "I went to her office like she asked me to and there were some pretty up-there ministry figures there, arguing with her over the house-elves. I guess they think she's not making a good enough effort to fix things."

Teddy waved it off. "She'll cope, she's got Dumbledore's portrait in her office to help her through it."

"How can a portrait help someone?" Oliver asked as the four of them started down to breakfast.

"Oh, loads of ways. Portraits are great; they're always pretty similar to their portrayals in personality, only not quite as mobile and a bit less dynamic," Teddy said, putting a hand unconsciously to his churning stomach. "There's a portrait of Fred in the back room of the Diagon Alley branch of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes that keeps shouting out suggestions for improvements on products and calls George and Lee idiots for some of the business choices they've made. It really helped George get back on track once Fred was put up."

Teddy caught a glimpse of Winnie's expression as he finished and immediately regretted bringing up the subject; he'd forgotten that Winnie was pretty much the twins' biggest fan. Oliver, Julia and Teddy were subjected to trivia on the latest line of Instant Darkness Powder that would be coming out around Christmas on their way down to the Great Hall.

"...And it provides starlight only to the one who cast the powder..."

"Do you hear that?" Teddy asked suddenly, stopping dead. Oliver and Julia frowned as they listened; voices were echoing down the corridor from the Great Hall.

"...And it doesn't stain your fingers black like the old stuff did..."

"Winnie," Teddy said softly, holding up a hand to silence her. He started forward, straining to distinguish what the voices were saying. Winnie's rant finally faltered to a stop and she listened, too. A crash punctuated the shouting; the four of them jumped, exchanged looks, and ran down the corridor toward the source of the noise.

The chaos was immediately apparent as they screeched to a halt in the doorway of the Great Hall. Sixth- and seventh-year Gryffindors and Slytherins were standing on top of their respective house tables, all shooting curses at one another; what had evidently began as taunting quickly seemed to have become a large-scale duel.

Teddy started forward without thinking to try and get a better look, but was immediately pulled back by the neck of his robes. "Stay there!" Professor Everard shouted as he passed, pulling out his own wand and starting into the battleground.

"Search going swimmingly, is it, Rimstone?" a Gryffindor shouted, wordlessly shooting a hex across the hall toward the nearest Slytherin. Evidently this was an offensive question, because the Slytherin ducked and shot an even more aggressive spell back in the direction of the Gryffindor, a look of fury on his face.

Teachers were scattered between the two tables, trying both to disarm students and dodge the curses flitting just barely over their heads. Everard stepped forward, waved his wand wildly around his head and shouted, "Expelliarmtotalus!" Immediately, wands flew out of every hand in the room and neatly formed a pile in front of Everard. Teachers, too, found themselves disarmed, and stared at Everard in shock.

"Everyone, sit down!" Everard shouted, though there was really no need for him to do so anymore; the hall had fallen silent. Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws peeked hesitantly out from under the table; the Gryffindors and Slytherins continued to stare one another down as they stepped back, slowly and simultaneously sinking down into their seats. Everard twirled his wand around again; about half the wands began to glow as they flew into the air and pointed to the students involved, each just out of their owner's reach. "If you do not have a wand floating in front of you, you may go. _Now_," Everard added sternly when everyone hesitated. Teddy hopped out of the way to avoid the stampede of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws exiting the hall, who were followed by many younger Gryffindors and Slytherins.

Teddy was vaguely aware of Oliver and Winnie bickering behind him as Everard magicked the doors to the Great Hall closed, effectively cutting off any sight and sound as to what was happening inside. "What are you two on about?" he asked distractedly, still staring at the doors. 

"Julia's gone," Winnie said.

"What?" Teddy looked around. "Where?"

"That's what we're talking about, we haven't the faintest," Oliver said. "She was running beside us the whole time, we stopped, and then she was... just gone. It's like she disappeared through a hole in the floor or something."

Teddy stared off, thinking about some of the stories Harry had told him about hidden passages out of the castle. Maybe Julia kept sneaking off to meet someone in Hogsmeade. But who would she meet? Maybe her parents were staying nearby... but she hadn't mentioned it, and he didn't really see why she wouldn't if that was the case. Plus that didn't explain her fearful reactions of things. Maybe she discovered she had a long lost sibling and they were staying in Hogsmeade with horror stories about what her parents were _really_ like. Or maybe--

The doors to the hall burst magickally open and an extremely cranky-looking Everard strode out, leaving stunned students sitting at the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables. They looked too astounded even to scowl at one another; they exchanged looks between themselves and then between the tables, not saying a word as the rest of the students filed hesitantly back in. 

"What d'you suppose that was all about?" Winnie asked, shrugging once inside the hall, temporarily forgetting about the Julia predicament.

"Probably just a taste of all this Slytherin-Gryffindor rivalry I was starting to think was a myth," Oliver said, sitting down at the far end of Gryffindor table and helping himself to Rosmerta's famous breakfast pastry that had appeared as they sat down. "Guess I was wrong."

"Everard sure was angry, though, wasn't he?" Winnie said, grinning unconsciously down at her plate of bacon and eggs. Teddy rolled his eyes at her and searched around the hall for any sign of Julia. Instead his eyes found Professor McGonagall, who had just hurried into the hall, wand out. She was met at the entrance by Professor Sprout, who seemed to be explaining something to her very carefully. McGonagall's expression relaxed steadily, her wand hand falling to her side. Then she frowned and became animated once more; Teddy saw her lips form the word "Everard" before she strode determinately from the hall.

"Bit slow on the uptake, isn't she?" Winnie said through a mouthful of eggs, following Teddy's line of vision. "She's the Headmistress, what took her so long?"

Teddy privately agreed, but didn't say anything. He also thought it was a bit off that she seemed to be upset with Everard for dealing with the situation; there had been other teachers in the room at the time, Flitwick included, and they all seemed to have let him do whatever he wanted... whatever that had been.

His thoughts on the subject were interrupted when Julia finally scurried into the hall and sat down beside Teddy, lips pursed. "Hey!" Teddy said as Winnie and Oliver looked up. "Where were you?"

"Bathroom," Julia muttered, pouring herself some cereal. He frowned suspiciously at her, but backed off once he noticed that her hands were shaking.

"You all right?" he asked concernedly.

Julia looked up at him with wide eyes and an unusually pale face, but nodded and attempted a smile. "The... the fight caught me off guard, I couldn't watch it so I just..." she trailed off into an exclamation of frustration as she completely dropped the box of cereal onto the table, spilling everywhere. She tried to clean it up clumsily, looking as though she was about to cry. Teddy noticed this and gently moved her hands aside to take the job over. She smiled at him gratefully, but got to her feet moments later and grabbed her bag. Teddy was about to ask her where she was going; before he was able to, she had grabbed a piece of toast and was backing hurriedly over the bench. "I've got to finish my Potions essay, I just remembered that I... I forgot a conclusion, so I'll see you in class." She turned and half-jogged out of the hall without another word. Teddy watched her go with a look of complete confusion etched on his face.

"It's like she's always just seen a ghost," Oliver mused aloud while putting marmalade on his toast, "except that we all see ghosts every day, so that can't be it."

"Maybe she's just gone mad," Winnie offered offhandedly.

"Winnie!" Teddy exclaimed accusatorily.

"What? I like Julia, I do, but either she's sick all the time or she's crazy. It's just a possibility, it doesn't make her a bad person or anything. And the fact she never tells us anything only proves my theory."

"She's not mad," Teddy said firmly, massaging his temples in an attempt to dispel the headache that had accompanied his nausea. "Something's going on with her, and if she's not willing to talk about it, then we should help her through in whatever way we can rather than say 'maybe she's gone mad'. Honestly."

"I'm not saying we shouldn't try to help, I--" Winnie trailed off and widened her eyes. "Hey... maybe she's a _werewolf_."

Teddy almost laughed. "I doubt it," he said honestly. 

"No, listen, Frieda told me about werewolves when I was little... she was trying to scare me but I just got really interested... she said they're pale all the time, and they never feel well, especially close to the full moon, which is probably pretty soon... they get the mad temptation to eat raw meat... hey, that's probably where she's gone right now," Winnie said, still wide-eyed.

"She's gone to finish her essay," Teddy maintained firmly.

"But--"

"No, enough," he said quietly. He felt his hair change colour with his struggle to keep himself calm. "Stop speculating on what the matter is with Julia and just offer to help her. It's all we can do, and it's not fair to talk about her behind her back, so just stop."

The rest of breakfast was eaten in somewhat stunned silence, but by the time the three of them wandered down to Potions together, they'd gone back to talking animatedly about Quidditch. Oliver had gotten used to Quidditch well enough to know the rules and even to make the occasional joke; the topic lasted all the way to class, where Julia was sitting at their usual table. Teddy watched her closely for the first while of class and saw that she was still pale, but seemed a lot more together; as soon as they started making the day's potion, she was back to her usual self. Teddy didn't understand, but decided to take his own advice and leave it alone.

After lunch, Julia and Oliver accompanied Winnie and Teddy down to the Quidditch pitch and went to sit in the stands, leaving them to stand awkwardly around and look like they knew what they were doing. Winnie talked rapidly while they waited about the model and the instability of the school broom she was "being forced to use"; Teddy nodded in response and meanwhile tried to quell the monster in his stomach. He hadn't eaten anything at all; neither breakfast nor lunch had seemed remotely appealing, and he still wasn't hungry, mid-afternoon though it was. Winnie had made quite the fuss at lunch, turning his earlier words to her back upon him, but had stopped after she noticed the way Teddy's hair was drooping. It had reverted to mousy brown, and no matter how hard Teddy tried, he couldn't seem to be able to change its colour.

"Just relax, Teds," Winnie had said through a mouthful of sandwich as she bounced in her seat, unable to sit still. "We're both going to make it just fine. We'll be famous! I can see our names on plaques now... Winnifred Wood and Theodore Lupin: First-Year Quidditch Extraordinaires."

"No pressure though," Oliver had muttered beside Teddy, grinning.

Now that Teddy was actually standing in line on the pitch, surrounded by other Seeker hopefuls, his stomach was churning worse than ever. He caught the eye of Riley, who was standing near the back of the line for Chasers; Riley looked nearly as nervous as Teddy felt, and they both waved weakly to one another as Winnie took the field.

Being the second in line for Beater tryouts, Winnie was already halfway into the air, equipped with a Beater's bat and looking thrilled to be flying again. Teddy almost laughed aloud; she looked absolutely disproportionate, soaring in large circles around the pitch and carrying a bat that was nearly her own height. She was strong, though; she hit the Bludgers with surprising speed and accuracy toward the other team. Despite the shakiness of the school broom, she flew extremely well. Teddy immediately felt outdone; he'd done quite a bit of flying, but Winnie had clearly clocked a lot more Quidditch hours than he had. Finally, she dismounted her broom and strode confidently toward the end of the line for Chaser tryouts as Samantha, the sixth-year captain, scribbled something on her clipboard, nodding approvingly.

Teddy barely paid attention as the next few groups took flight; he decided that many of them were probably better players than he was and wanted to avoid psyching himself out more than he already had. He only brought himself out of his thoughts when it was Riley's and Winnie's turn to try out for Chaser.

Riley dealt with the Quaffle very well; his reflexes were amazing, and he always threw the ball at unexpected times, tricking the Keeper more often than not. His flying, however, was less than to be desired. Despite having gotten hold of a fairly new model of broom, the handle kept slipping out of his grip; more than once, he did a loop through the air without meaning to. He was grinning when he dismounted, however; he had stayed on his broom for a whole three minutes and scored four goals. "Better than I usually do," he grinned to a laughing Winnie.

Winnie proved just as adept at being Chaser as she did at Beater; she made more than one tricky catch and scored a couple of goals in the three minutes she was in the air. She was grinning widely this time when she flew back to the ground, passing Teddy on her way to the end of the line for Keeper. "Good luck," she said quietly, slapping him good-naturedly on the shoulder.

Teddy realized suddenly that he was at the front of the line. Samantha looked up and nodded at him. Teddy mounted his broom slowly, taking a deep breath before pushing himself off the ground and soaring into the air.

The old Comet model tended to drift left and shook a bit under his grip, but Teddy quickly got used to the broom's quirks as he took a lap around the pitch. He caught a glimpse of Julia and Oliver in the stands; they got to their feet and clapped loudly as he passed. This sight cleared Teddy's head a bit and he put on a burst of speed, wind running through his still droopy hair. He exchanged grins with Riley as they passed each other in the air; Riley had been asked to try out again because there were no other Chasers to be tried, and Samantha seemed to want to see if he could get better control of his broom. Teddy closed his eyes against the wind, soaring freely for a minute before embarking on his search for the Golden Snitch.

Teddy's attention was drawn to the ground after a few laps around the pitch; a Chaser had fallen off his broom and--Teddy almost didn't dare to believe it--the Snitch fluttering just inches away from him. Teddy's stomach lurched in excitement rather than nerves and he nudged the broom into a dive, all the while keeping an eye on the other Seeker. She was on the other side of the pitch and was at the wrong angle to see the Snitch; the Chaser's head was blocking her line of vision. Teddy swooped low, stretching out a hand--

His stomach lurched powerfully. The sensation was nearly enough to knock Teddy off his broom; he closed his eyes and hung on for dear life, instinctively pulling out of the dive and flying flat for few moments while he regained his composure. He glanced fleetingly behind him as he sat up straight and turned the broom slowly around; the Snitch had disappeared.

"Seeker, he's under control!" Samantha yelled at Teddy, beckoning at Madam Hooch who was running hurriedly across the pitch. "Get moving!"

Teddy stared at Samantha for a moment. The blood was pounding in his head rather loudly, and it took him a moment to process what she was saying. He finally realized that he was simply hovering in mid-air, staring at the fallen Chaser. He put on a burst of speed and held tightly onto the broom as he resumed flying. Teddy couldn't ever remember feeling quite like this before; he got sick every so often, sure, but this was entirely different. In some ways, it was almost... pleasant. Teddy leaned forward, gaining speed and trying to clear his thoughts enough to remember his usual seeking strategy. He found he was having trouble focusing, though--his eyes kept rolling back into his head. Teddy thought fuzzily that this was a sort of odd thing for them to do. It would be difficult to find the Snitch again if his eyes were only seeing the inside of his head. The logical thing, Teddy decided, would be to give up on trying to find the Snitch and just keep flying. There were some Seekers who hadn't even seen the Snitch when they were trying out, even though it was bewitched to go more slowly than usual for the sake of tryouts. Teddy had seen the Snitch, so he was ahead of them already. That meant he still had a chance, right? Maybe if he flew faster, though, he'd have an even better chance--

Teddy swooped over Madam Hooch's head at such a high speed that she screamed and ducked as he passed. Another violent jolt suddenly hit his stomach hard, and he pulled up in surprise; he nearly slipped backwards off his broom as he shot further and further up into the sky. He was too distracted to realize how high his broom was taking him; there were a whole bunch of dancing dark spots in front of his eyes, and one nice, golden spot right in the middle. It was very pretty, Teddy thought; he reached a hand out in front of him and pulled it out from among the dark spots.

Suddenly his grip slipped from the broom, and he was falling backwards through the air. He watched his broom continue to fly upwards (and slightly to the left) without him before the dancing spots in front of his eyes multiplied, and the world went dark.


	8. Winnie's Outburst

Teddy felt warmth on his face. He tried to lift an arm to brush whatever it was away, but his arm didn't seem to want to move. He blinked his eyes slowly open and was surprised to find that he wasn't in his four-poster in Gryffindor tower, but was staring instead at a white ceiling, framed by white curtains that fell around his bed. Teddy moved his head to the side and was nearly blinded by a sliver of sunlight; he winced and turned his head the other way, blearily regarding a figure sleeping in a chair beside him.

The curtains suddenly ruffled and Madam Pomfrey appeared, approaching Teddy with a smoking vial of potion. "Ah, you're awake," she mumbled, though she had clearly been aware of this fact before she'd entered the enclosure. "Drink this."

Teddy opened his mouth to ask what it was, but all that came out was a hoarse squeak. Madam Pomfrey took his open mouth for granted and shoved the liquid down his throat. Teddy sputtered, but swallowed it in one, immediately getting the sincere impression that he may have just been poisoned based on the taste. "What'd you do that for?" he managed to choke hoarsely.

"I'm _trying_ to figure out what the matter is with you," she responded irritably, "as I am a Healer and that is what we tend to do. Don't you dare!" she proclaimed as Teddy struggled to sit up. He stopped, staring at her with wide eyes and tried to figure out what he wasn't supposed to be daring to do. Immediately, Teddy's head started to pound; he shut his eyes tight and slid back down to a lying position, waiting for his vision to return to normal as the pounds receded. "You fell fifty feet out of the air, it's an absolute_ miracle_ you're not dead," Madam Pomfrey said as she bustled around the enclosure. "Your ribs were in dreadful condition, I don't mind saying, but you got away without any serious spinal injury; I've managed to patch you up well enough but it's only been twenty-four hours. You also had _quite_ the concussion and rather significant whiplash, there is no way you're getting out of that bed for at least another day, I can scarcely believe you're already conscious with the injuries you sustained..." Her run-on sentence trailed off as she swept back through the curtains, taking the still-smoking vial with her.

Teddy's jaw would have dropped open in any other circumstance; he settled instead for a vacant stare. He'd been unconscious for an entire day. He wondered what exactly had happened to land him here... he remembered getting on the broom at the Quidditch tryouts, and then... that Chaser crashed... and... after that there wasn't anything. It was as though his memory had simply decided to stop working.

He was vaguely aware of a fluttering in his right hand. He had enough strength to lift his head and glance down; the tiny golden Snitch was still flapping its wings uselessly against his grip. He grinned, but didn't know what to do with it. He moved his arm with difficulty and put it in the pocket of his robes, hanging on a rack beside him.

Teddy took the opportunity to take in his surroundings a bit more thoroughly. Remembering the sleeping figure in the chair, he moved his head to the side and saw that it was Julia snoozing peacefully beside him. He smiled at her gratefully as she slept on. He wondered vaguely how long she'd been there as Madam Pomfrey hustled back with a new potion for Teddy.

"Yes," she said tersely, helping him up so he could swallow the potion more readily. "There were a few friends wanting to see you, but this one absolutely refused to leave. I was about to take out my wand and _float_ her out of here when your godfather intervened."

"Harry?" Teddy croaked after he'd finished coughing at the vile taste of the latest potion. "Harry was here?"

"Mm," she confirmed, obviously unimpressed. "I believe he's speaking with the Headmistress at the moment, but he said he'd be back soon." She frowned bitterly and swept from the room, accidentally nudging Julia as she passed. Julia blinked herself awake; Teddy watched her amusedly as she gazed confusedly at her surroundings before she caught sight of him watching her from his horizontal position on the bed.

"Hi," he grinned, voice barely above a whisper. She stared at him with wide eyes.

"Hi," she said back. "You're awake."

"I hope so," he said, "otherwise this is a pretty boring dream. No offence," he added hastily. Julia suddenly leapt out of her chair and flung her arms around Teddy's neck. He flinched in pain but attempted to return the gesture, instead more patting Julia's sides. At least his arms were moving now.

"No more Quidditch for you," she scolded as she pulled away.

Teddy winced. "Didn't get in, huh?"

Julia shook her head. "Winnie did though, she dragged Oliver off to practice with her about an hour ago.

Teddy's heart sunk. "She did?"

Julia nodded. She was good at the head gestures today.

"What position?" he said, trying to sound happy for her.

"Keeper," she said. "After they carted you away, she wanted to go with you but she was next in line for tryouts and Madam Pomfrey was being dreadfully pushy anyway, so she flew. Oliver said Samantha was really impressed; kept saying she lived up to her name or something."

Teddy thought this was an odd comment, but knew if he said anything about it, his tone would be bitter. Instead, he changed the subject. "Did Madam Pomfrey happen to mention what was wrong with me?"

"She said she didn't know, exactly," Julia said, but she was definitely not meeting his eyes.

"But..." Teddy prompted.

Julia shrugged nervously. "It must have been serious, your godfather burst in and just started yelling at Madam Pomfrey. Woke up half the ward, but you kept on being unconscious." Her voice wavered, but she swallowed and gave a watery smile.

"Did he?" Teddy asked amusedly. "What was he yelling about?"

"She was trying to physically escort me from the ward, and he walked in, got really mad and whipped out his wand. He said some pretty intense magic-related stuff and kept calling her 'Poppy' in this really angry tone, so she backed off and he sat there" (Julia pointed to a chair on the other side of Teddy's bed) "until McGonagall came to talk to him. Then they went outside, and you could still hear him shouting from the Entrance Hall."

Teddy chuckled before remembering his ribs were a shambles and stopped immediately. "He always did have a bit of a temper," he joked in a pained voice.

Julia suddenly covered her face with her hands. "Oooh, I'm so glad you're okay," she said in her delicate voice.

Teddy winced heavily as he sat himself up in bed; even though one of the potions had apparently been to help dull the pain he was in, he still felt very nauseous and very stiff. "I think 'okay' might be a few days off," he said shakily. "I just wish I knew what happened."

Again, Julia avoided his gaze. "Julia... do you know something?" he asked her quietly. She looked up at him nervously, eyes wide, but was spared the necessity of response by the squeak of door hinges that signified someone had entered the ward.

"How is he?" he heard Harry's now mellow voice ask Madam Pomfrey.

"He is awake," came her bitter response. "You may see him, I suppose... not like I could stop you..."

"I... er... apologize," he told her, but Teddy could hear an edge to his voice that said he didn't particularly mean it. The curtain in front of him was flung open and Harry stood in dishevelled Muggle clothing, his hair as unkempt as ever. Harry took one look at the grinning Teddy, sighed with relief, and grinned back. "Hi," he said finally.

"Hi," Teddy grinned crookedly. "I'm not quite up to hugs yet," (Julia blushed guiltily) "but I'm mightily glad to see you, so I will offer a handshake." He held out his hand to Harry, who burst out laughing and took it.

"Glad to see your sense of humour hasn't suffered," he said, sitting down on Teddy's other side. "Hullo, Julia," he said, nodding. Julia smiled shyly and raised a hand in greeting. Harry looked guilty and leaned closer to Teddy, stage whispering. "I think I've scared her. I... er... may have done a bit of shouting when I first got here. Madam Pomfrey wasn't pleased."

"Everyone's making such a fuss," Teddy said, though happily. "I woke up and the first thing she did was shove a smoking potion down my throat. Tasted like poison, it was dreadful... the goblet kept on smoking even after the potion was g--what?" Harry had paled at Teddy's words.

"Really?" he asked with the sincerity of a true question.

Teddy blanched in kind. "It _wasn't_ actually poison, was it?"

Harry looked up. "Er... no, I assure you, Madam Pomfrey only acts in... proper... hold on a second." He dashed back behind the curtain with an expression of determination. "Poppy!" he shouted immediately. Teddy flinched. Harry could do to be a bit more tactful sometimes.

Julia was watching Teddy with wide eyes. "What?" Teddy asked her, now getting annoyed at the odd reactions people were having to innocent news.

"He didn't sound very convinced that it wasn't poison," she said shakily.

Teddy shook his head softly. "Harry wouldn't lie to me, regardless of what it was about. If he didn't know, he'd say he didn't know."

Harry swept back into the room. "Teddy, were you feeling nauseous before you fell?"

"I don't know, I don't remember anything past flying around near the ground, checking on a Chaser that fell off his broom. But I'd been feeling nauseous the whole day," he confided, "so yeah, probably."

Harry stared blankly. "Are you nauseous now?"

Teddy narrowed his eyes. "Why do you ask?" he asked slowly.

Harry didn't look him in the eye. "Be back in a minute," he muttered, and dashed back behind the white curtain.

Teddy was miffed. "Will someone kindly fill me in on what's going on?"

"Um..." started Julia. "The... the something I know but don't want to say..."

"Yeah?" he prompted, eager for information.

"Um..." she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Well, I was pretending to be asleep a few hours ago so Madam Pomfrey wouldn't try to talk me out of leaving again, and... she talks to herself while she works..." Julia swallowed. "She mentioned something about... about Wolfsbane potion..."

Teddy frowned. "What's Wolfsbane potion?"

Harry stepped back into the room, smiling. "Sorry about that. There's--er--a smoking potion like you described that's causing Ron and I a bit of trouble at work, so I just wanted to make sure Madam Pomfrey wasn't involved." He paused awkwardly and sat back down. "She's not," he concluded somewhat lamely.

Teddy caught sight of Julia giving him a stare that said plainly, "and you say Harry Potter doesn't lie."

"I wish people would stop side-stepping around me and give it to me straight," Teddy said, now feeling rather irritable. He felt his scalp tingle familiarly and figured his hair was turning black, which was an indicative sign of his improving health.

Harry looked uncomfortable. "Look, I just don't want to worry you over problems that aren't problems."

"And yet you refer to these so-called non-problems as problems," Teddy pointed out. Julia raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Yes, but... you're ill, and I don't wish to..."

"What. Was. The potion thing about." Teddy gasped suddenly, ignoring the searing pain in his ribs and turned to Julia. "Was that the Wolfsbane potion?" he asked excitedly.

Julia and Harry exchanged a glance. That was enough of an answer for Teddy. "Okay, so what does it do?" he asked them, switching from one face to the other. Finally Harry sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose.

"Keep in mind that it's not a problem for you," Harry said. "We only thought it was, and it's better to be safe than--"

"Point please," Teddy interrupted, determined to get to the bottom of everyone's secrecy.

Harry sighed. "We thought you might have--"

A squeak followed by a loud bang reached everyone's ears. "Sorry," he heard Winnie say. "Hey, we're here to see--"

"May as well go in, I might get cursed otherwise," came Madam Pomfrey's voice, still indicating crankiness. "Do try not to make quite so much noise, though--"

"Teddy!" Winnie proclaimed at high volume as she came through the sheet, broom over her shoulder, Oliver grinning behind her. "How are you, you rascal?"

"Just ducky," he responded bitterly, arms crossed.

"Aw, you're just cranky because you just woke up," she said, stepping in front of Harry without even seeing him and ruffling Teddy's now definitively black hair. "Hey, not to bring up a sore subject or anything, but that was one spectacular capture of the Snitch, I've never seen anything like it short of professional players... 'course, it caused you to fall backwards off your broom, but still..."

"You didn't tell me you caught it!" Harry proclaimed suddenly from behind her.

Winnie jumped and turned around. Her face was quite comical to watch as she realized who was sitting in the chair in front of her; she gaped first, bringing a hand up to her forehead before bringing it down to cover her mouth, which emphasized her bulging eyes. Then she turned a brilliant shade of crimson and turned to face the other way, flattening her windswept hair down reflexively. When she turned back, she was wearing a very silly grin. "I've wanted to marry you for years," she breathed, clapping a hand to her mouth as soon as she'd said it.

"So would that make him Harry Potter or George Weasley?" Oliver muttered to Julia, almost unable to contain his laughter.

"Harry Potter," she confirmed, also suppressing spiels of giggles. Even Teddy smiled despite himself. Harry simply blushed.

"Er... I'm already married," Harry offered, shrugging. "Sorry?" he added sheepishly.

"Oh, no, that's okay," Winnie breathed, seemingly unable to decide whether to be embarrassed or ecstatic that _Harry Potter_ was talking directly to _her_. "I knew that anyway." She ogled at him for a moment before emitting a sort of strangled laugh and, turning clumsily on the spot, she fled from the room.

Once everyone's tears of laughter and subsided into half-hearted coughs of amusement, Harry said weakly, "I take it that was Winnie."

Teddy clutched his injured ribs uncomfortably, but decided the laugh was worth it. "That was Winnie, all right," he said, still smiling, his hair a jolly shade of turquoise.

"I'm Oliver," Oliver said, stepping forward and holding out a hand. "I--er--didn't know who you were until three weeks ago, and I can honestly say I haven't ever considered the benefits of marrying you."

Harry grinned. "I'm relieved," he said, shaking Oliver's hand. "I'm glad I got to meet all of you, it'll be good to be able to match faces to the names in Teddy's letters."

"If Winnie was here, she'd interject a comment gushing about how sweet it was you wrote about us to _Harry Potter_," Oliver muttered, emphasizing his name as Winnie always did. Teddy grinned.

"Yes she would," he agreed. "Hey, listen, is she any good at Quidditch?"

"I don't know what the standards are, but as far as I can tell, she's as good as the rest of the team, maybe even better," Oliver provided. "From my perspective, she's brilliant at it, but I wasn't aware brooms could fly until very recently, so a papaya on a broom would look brilliant through my eyes."

"She made the team?" Harry asked as Teddy chuckled. "She's in first year, isn't she?"

Teddy nodded. "She's Keeper, but she tried out for everything. Well, except Seeker, but that's because she knew I was trying out for it." Teddy suddenly felt disappointed in himself for being jealous of Winnie's Quidditch abilities, and pledged to congratulate her for it the next time he saw her.

Harry nodded impressively. "Good on her. Pass on my congratulations, won't you?"

"Absolutely," Teddy promised, nodding. "Now, about that Wolfsbane potion."

Teddy could tell Harry was suppressing a groan. "Look, it's nothing to worry about... why don't we let you get some rest."

"Nope," he said firmly, shaking his head, his hair reverting back to its jet black shade of determination. "Come on, guys, you _both_ know something I don't, and it's ruddy about me, so I think I have a right to--" Teddy stopped and frowned at the empty chair to his right. "Where's Julia gone?"

Oliver looked shocked. "I was standing here the whole time, I didn't see her leave," he said, holding his hands up as though someone had a wand trained on him. Teddy's gaze snapped back to Harry, who likewise looked concerned but shook his head.

Teddy frowned even harder. "She is so mysterious!" he proclaimed, genuinely confused. He shook his head, however, and decided to keep on task. "But anyway, we were talking about Wolfsbane Potion."

Harry rolled his eyes behind his glasses.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but what's Wolfsbane Potion?" Oliver asked timidly.

"That's the question," Teddy said, smiling now that he had a teammate. He stared at Harry, arms crossed, waiting for his response.

Harry ran a hand through his hair. "Are you sure you want Oliver to hear this?" he asked Teddy in a low voice, nodding at the boy behind him.

Teddy frowned. "Of course, why wouldn't I?"

Harry sighed. "It has to do with... with your father."

The colour drained from Teddy's face. Slowly, he turned and faced his friend. "I'm sorry... do you mind--?"

"Of course not," Oliver said immediately. "Glad you're okay, Teddy. See you later. Good to meet you," he said to Harry, who smiled at him and waved as Oliver disappeared behind the sheet. Teddy looked down wearily at Harry, who again sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Wolfsbane potion is what your father took before a full moon. It let him keep his human mind and stopped him from feeding while he was transformed." Harry sighed once more, as though contemplating how much to tell Teddy. "Madam Pomfrey was worried that, because you collapsed on the day of the full moon, you might have... inherited some of his werewolfish attributes."

"But that's not possible," Teddy said shakily.

"Not as far as the wizarding world knows, but..." Harry's face showed his internal struggle. "When he found out your mother was pregnant, Lupin panicked. He was certain he'd condemned you for life, as he was condemned throughout his own existence. I... questioned his judgement, to put it delicately, when he came to me with these concerns, and assumed he was projecting his own issues onto you, but it... it occurs to me now that it might have been paternal instinct."

Teddy was speechless. He could tell Harry was alarmed when he saw how pale his face was. "But Madam Pomfrey assured me that she was only giving it to you as a precaution. She checked in on you repeatedly in the night, and you looked perfectly human each time she did. If you did inherit anything from the werewolf side of your father, it certainly wasn't any physical attribute."

Teddy sighed with relief. He'd heard about the persecution his father had been at the wrong end of, and wasn't terribly keen on being a werewolf. He noticed, however, that Harry was hesitating. "There's more, isn't there?" he asked quietly.

"Only a bit," Harry said quickly. "You know how you tend not to feel well about every... oh, say, four weeks or so?"

"Y--" Teddy cut himself off and closed his eyes reflexively. "My illnesses are in time with the full moon, aren't they?"

Harry nodded. "I figured it out a couple of years ago, when you stayed with us for those consecutive months because your gran was in hospital. I'm sorry I didn't say anything, Teddy, I really am... I just didn't want to alarm you."

"It's okay," Teddy said quietly, hoping he sounded convincing as anger bubbled in the pit of his stomach. Harry stared at him for a minute before smiling grimly and getting to his feet.

"I'm glad you're all right," Harry said softly in what Teddy recognized as his Dad voice, putting a hand on Teddy's shoulder. Teddy usually found his comforting, but today it was only upsetting him further. "I'm going to let you alone to sleep... would you like me to come back when you wake up?"

Teddy shook his head. "It looks like you were in the middle of something," he mumbled, indicating Harry's unusual attire. Harry smiled grimly.

"Let's just say it involves Muggles, magical power drills, and a whole bunch of unhappy goblins. Listen, stay in touch, all right? I haven't gotten a letter from you in a while."

"I meant to send one yesterday after Quidditch tryouts to tell you how they went, but I was indisposed." Teddy winced at his own bitter comment. Harry pursed his lips and took the hint.

"Take care, kiddo."

"Harry?" Teddy called after him without meaning to. He poked his head back around the curtain with a questioning look on his face. "Did you... only come because of the possibility I might have been a werewolf?"

Harry stepped back into the room, stunned. Teddy hastened a glance at his expression, and he was shocked to notice that Harry looked almost offended by the question. "Of _course_ not," he breathed, staring at Teddy. "I didn't even learn of the Wolfsbane potion until you mentioned it, Teddy."

Teddy's face reddened. Now he remembered. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Don't be," Harry said. "I'm sorry for giving you that impression." He started to leave again, sensing Teddy's desire to be left alone, but stopped just inside the curtain. "I love you, Teddy."

By the time Teddy finally found his voice, Harry was long gone.  



	9. The Smellsies

When Teddy sat down at Gryffindor table Monday morning, Winnie was facedown in her oatmeal. 

"What's with her?" he asked with a grin, plunking himself down beside Julia.

"Hourly Harry mortification," Oliver said without glancing up from his breakfast.

"Ah." Teddy left her alone, knowing all too well she'd surface eventually and start whining about how stupid she felt. And sure enough...

"'_I've wanted to marry you for years_'?" she shrieked, oatmeal clinging to her face and hair. "Why didn't one of you curse me to death?"

"We like you too much," Teddy said, reaching across the table and placing a paper napkin on her face, which stuck to her cheek. She made no effort to remove it. 

"Yeah, you're our comic relief," Oliver added.

"AUGH," Winnie proclaimed with eloquence, and was promptly facedown again, napkin and all, in oatmeal.

"It's been two days, Winnie," Oliver said distractedly. "Give it a rest."

"Oh, I'm _sorry_ my eternal inner turmoil is bothering you," Winnie spat, resurfacing. "I can go up to the Astronomy tower and _jump off of it_ if it's too much of an inconvenience."

"No, you're fine right there," Oliver resigned, shoving a third pastry into his mouth and shooting a look at Teddy that said plainly, 'your turn'. 

"Harry thought you were a laugh, don't worry about it," Teddy reassured her.

"A laugh?" she repeated hollowly. "_A laugh_?"

"Wrong thing to say, I think," Julia muttered beside him. 

"Yeah, I got that, thanks."

"Hey!" Winnie exclaimed suddenly, brightening up instantly. "You're out of the Hospital Wing!"

"Keen on the uptake, isn't she?" Oliver commented, smiling.

But Teddy was frowning across the table. "Okay, I know a considerable amount of oatmeal is on your face, but that only accounts for less than half a bowl of oatmeal, and there's not that much splattered on the table."

"Oh, I ate while I was down there," Winnie said offhandedly, wiping her face clean with a paper napkin. She appeared to be completely cured of her 'eternal inner turmoil' for the time being.

Oliver stared. "You are the nuttiest person I have ever met in my entire life."

She shrugged happily as she got to her feet, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "I try."

The four of them walked to Transfiguration in discussion of Winnie's oddities. She plopped into the seat behind Teddy and suddenly looked up, shocked. "Hey! You're out of the Hospital Wing!" she repeated in the same tone of voice.

"_Really_ keen on the uptake, isn't she?" Oliver muttered. Teddy and Julia grinned.

"Not Teddy, you twit," Winnie said. "I was talking to Riley." She beckoned to the beaming boy, who waved and sat down heavily in front of Teddy. 

"Hey Julia," he said. "First day of Gryffindor classes, huh?"

Julia nodded. Teddy thought he heard her make a very quiet squeal of delight. Though Julia had been even less talkative than usual that morning, she'd been beaming from the second she'd gotten up with the prospect of being in every class with her friends.

"What were you in for?" Teddy asked Riley curiously with the air of someone talking about a term in Azkaban.

"I fell off my broom, same as you," Riley said. "Just before you did, actually. But then Madam Hooch sort of... accidentally made me cough up my lung when she was trying to dislodge one of my teeth from my throat."

Oliver winced. "Holy hell."

"That's what Madam Pomfrey said, too. Then she threatened to take Madam Hooch's wand away, and then I don't really remember anything until last night, when I woke up with both lungs in tact. I guess it took some pretty creative Healing, but she managed. Er... Teddy?" he asked oddly as he finished.

"Hmm?" Teddy said.

"Why are you smelling me?"

Teddy opened his eyes and noticed that he had his nose pressed into Riley's shoulder, and was furthermore aware that he was inhaling deeply as he did so. "Er... sorry," he said, confused at his own behaviour.

"Teddy?"

"Hmm?"

"You're still doing it."

"Right." Teddy backed up and sat up straight in his seat. "Sorry."

"Good morning, first-years," Everard chirped merrily as he entered the room. "Teddy, Riley, glad to see you have recovered. Julia, we are very pleased to have you in our midst."

"Thank you sir," she muttered, blushing but grinning.

"Another Gryffindor?" Vincent Vorkson said from across the room. "That's hardly fair, is it? Give us another Slytherin, then."

"It doesn't work that way, Vincent. Sit down, and kindly address me as 'sir' or 'Professor' in the future," Everard said with a flare of anger in his voice. "Right then. Homework please," he demanded; with a flick of his wand, eleven rolls of parchment stacked themselves neatly on his desk, just as the wands had done in the Great Hall the previous Friday.

"You're bloody Head of Slytherin house! You're supposed to be on our side, not theirs!"

"I am not on any _side_, Vorkson. Sit down or I will be forced to give you detention. Ten points from Slytherin for your cheek, and if you speak against Gryffindor again, it will be fifty."

Vorkson sat slowly down, grumbling beneath his breath. 

"Wonderful," Everard exclaimed suddenly, clapping his hands together enthusiastically. "Today's is a practical lesson; the five people who change the most acorns into chestnuts by the end of the lesson will receive no homework. You may start now," he finished with raised eyebrows, referring to his watch.

A stack of acorns appeared on the desk in front of Riley, but he took no notice. He was distracted by the face planted in his back. "Teddy, what the bleeding hell."

"Hmm?"

"Will one of you remove him from me?"

Winnie reached forward and pulled Teddy's shoulders back. "What _are_ you doing?" she hissed in his ear.

"I don't know," he said somewhat dreamily, lazily pointing his wand at an acorn and having it immediately turn into a chestnut without his needing to think about it. "I can't figure it out for the life of me. He smells really peculiar, but that doesn't explain" (Winnie pulled him back again) "why I keep reflexively" (and again) "trying to smell him." Winnie linked an arm around his neck from behind to keep him from leaning forward once more. "I honestly can't stop myself," he continued in a strangled voice. 

"Winnie, what is going on over there?" Everard asked from the front of the room, looking genuinely mystified.

"It's all right, Professor," Teddy assured him as he beckoned at Riley and as Winnie continued to hold him in a headlock. "She's doing the both of us a favour."

Everard raised his eyebrows but didn't comment. Teddy ignored the approving comments from the Slytherins about having one less Gryffindor to contend with and looked at the acorns on his desk out of the corner of his eye, deciding to focus on his task at hand.

Teddy was able to get more of a hold on his strange tendencies when he was working. Winnie held onto his hair the entire class to keep himself from face-planting into Riley's shoulder, which definitely helped. Riley fortunately started to find the situation rather amusing once he believed that Teddy wasn't doing it on purpose. Teddy still managed to outdo most of the class in his Transfiguration skills despite his issue; Winnie, though having to contend with one hand being occupied the entire class, was also among those without homework. Julia and Oliver glared jealously at them as they wrote down the criteria for their paper on practical Transfiguration.

"Now Teddy, if I let go, do you think you'll be able to manage not attaching yourself to Riley?" Winnie asked as she shoved her book into her bag single-handedly.

"Yes," Teddy said with an expression of concentration.

"Are you suuuuure?"

"I've been practicing," he assured her, and she let go of him, smiling. Riley stood a short way away, braced in the event of an incoming Teddy. Teddy stood up straight, however, and managed to walk by Riley without a single inclination in his direction.

"Good on you, mate. Much appreciated," Riley said as he passed in the corridor, grinning.

"I've been hungry all morning," Teddy said loudly in response, rubbing his stomach and focusing on walking in a straight line.

"That's because you didn't eat breakfast," Oliver pointed out.

"Oh. Yeah. That's probably why," Teddy commented distractedly as he drifted right; Riley had stopped to speak to his older brother in the corridor. Oliver shot out an arm and pulled him back on track.

"Teddy, mate, maybe you should head back to the hospital wing."

"I'm fine," Teddy insisted. "I'm just... odd. I'm an odd person, haven't you noticed?"

"No, actually. Winnie's the odd one. Julia's the quiet one, I'm the witty one, and you're the zen-type guy who doesn't lose his temper and is relatively cheerful regardless of circumstance."

Teddy stared, along with Winnie and Julia. Oliver shrunk slightly under their glares. "I may also be the observant one."

"Apparently," Teddy and Winnie said simultaneously as they stood in front of the History of Magic class, waiting for the doors to open. Teddy stood with the rest of the crowd until Riley walked up behind him, at which time he turned completely around and connected his nose once again with Riley's shoulder.

"Hospital wing?" Oliver prompted, standing Teddy upright and steering him away from Riley.

"I'm fine," he stated again stubbornly, but Winnie and Oliver promptly had him by an elbow each and were escorting him down the corridor. "Hey, let go."

"Nope," Oliver said shortly.

"I'm not even sick!"

"We beg to differ," Winnie insisted. "I know healthy Teddy would never keep hair of such a bright pink like that without becoming self-conscious that someone would call his bluff about being Metamorphmagus."

Teddy glanced up at his scalp and caught a glimpse of his neon pink eyebrows. He frowned and forced his hair immediately to a droopy brown. Oliver, meanwhile, raised his eyebrows at Winnie. "Maybe we ought to share the title of 'The Observant One'," he said quietly. She paid no mind and continued to stare straight ahead.

The rest of the short trip to the Hospital Wing was travelled in relative silence, aside from the occasional statement from Teddy regarding his unusual state of hunger. Once having burst through the doors, however, Winnie was the first to complain loudly, "Madam Pomfrey, Teddy's come down with a case of the Smellsies and is acting slightly but not entirely weird."

"And I'm really hungry. Like, hungrier than usual," Teddy interjected.

"Underage drinking is not my business," she stated annoyedly at Winnie's disruption of the silent ward.

"I don't mean that _he_ smells, I mean he keeps smelling other people. Merlin," she added under her breath.

"Specifically Riley Thompson," Oliver added helpfully. 

Madam Pomfrey looked up from the chart she was holding, but remained a neutral expression. "Whatever it is, I don't think I can help you."

"What? But I have to stop smelling him. Do you have any steaks on hand, perchance?"

Julia gasped suddenly. Everyone looked around at her; she blushed slightly under their glares and put a hand to her mouth as though she hadn't intended to gasp out loud.

"Where have you been?" Teddy asked slowly.

The blush faded immediately from her cheeks. "I was here the whole time," she said evenly, staring with wide eyes at him as though he was some sort of circus freak. Teddy ran a hand over his face to check on his features in case they weren't quite right (as had been the case last time she had regarded him with such odd wonder), and sure enough, his nose was still scrunched up from its collision with Riley's ribcage.

"Why didn't anyone tell me my nose was like that?" he grumbled embarrassedly, re-moulding it into its original shape and allowing his hair to turn a bright red under the circumstance.

"It was too funny to see the double-takes as we walked down the hall," Winnie said offhandedly, as though she wasn't really paying attention to the topic at hand. "But seriously, Madam Pomfrey, you have to do something. I can't get anything done, I'm too busy holding him back from faceplanting into Riley."

Madam Pomfrey continued to stare, with a certain sadness in her eyes. "I'm sorry. This is simply something you will have to learn to get under control. There is nothing I can do, other than send you to St. Mungo's," (Teddy's hair stood literally on end out of horror at the prospect) "but I don't think the occasion permits that sort of action."

"Can't you at least hazard a guess?" Teddy asked pleadingly.

"I am afraid not."

"But you know something," Winnie said skeptically.

Madam Pomfrey hesitated. "It has happened before," she admitted reluctantly, but didn't expand on the subject.

Julia squeaked quietly beside Teddy. Despite his own confusion and annoyance with Madam Pomfrey for withholding information, he looked over at her. There seemed to be an intense war going on in her head; she was looking at him almost pleadingly, as though there was something he should know, but she didn't want to tell him. He frowned at her and extended an arm in concern, but once she realized her squeak had been heard, she stepped just out of his reach and stared with equal fervour at the floor.

Teddy's hair turned black with minor annoyance. "Why isn't anyone telling me anything lately?" he asked aloud, more out of wonder than anger. Oliver and Winnie looked at him questioningly, while Madam Pomfrey continued to stare at him evenly.

"So what caused it before?" Winnie asked as she turned back to Madam Pomfrey, not giving up.

Madam Pomfrey blinked several times. "It's unclear," she finally stated, returning to her chart.

"That answer was too long coming to be the truth! Out with it, woman!" Winnie nearly shouted. Madam Pomfrey looked at her with extreme annoyance and put her hands on her hips.

"Now really! I have told you all I am going to tell you! If there is nothing else, Mr. _Lupin_, I must ask you and your friends to leave the wing and _cease disrupting my patients_!"

"Was that necessary?" he asked Winnie quietly as they stepped back into the corridor.

"Are you satisfied that you got a lie about what is clearly a serious condition?" she asked pushily.

Teddy shrugged off her hyperbole. "Yelling at her wouldn't help matters. At least we know that she knows something."

Winnie ogled. "How do you stand to be so bleeding patient?!"

"Yelling doesn't help matters," he repeated, shrugging. Oliver and Julia stepped forward to create roadblocks between them, as Winnie looked about to explode.

"You look better," Oliver noticed loudly.

"Yeah, I feel better," Teddy admitted earnestly. "I'm not quite so overwhelmingly hungry anymore. Quite."

"Well, History of Magic is pretty well over, and it's not like we'll have missed anything anyway," Winnie decided with forced calmness, although the class was only ten minutes gone. "I vote we go down to lunch."

"Second," Teddy said happily, grinning. Oliver shrugged and followed them into the Great Hall, sitting down beside Winnie at the near-empty table. Julia only stared at her plate as the others began wolfing down their food.

"What's up?" Teddy asked her quietly in between mouthfuls of potatoes.

She looked up at him with wide-eyes. Teddy once again had the serious impression that she had something rather significant to say. After a bit more coaxing, Julia finally said quietly, "I think you should write your godfather and tell him about... this."

"The lunch isn't quite that good, Julia," he commented jokingly, trying to brighten the mood. Julia only shook her head and continued to regard him solemnly. Teddy frowned and nodded. "I was planning on it. Why?"

"It's..." she shook her head. "I just think it would be a good idea."

This advice apparently fulfilled Julia's need to speak, for she promptly began helping herself to a hearty lunch and exhibited quite normal behaviour for the rest of the day.

* * *

**A/N: **_I keep creating mysteries without solving any. I hope it's not too confusing. I solemnly swear (that I am up to no good) to solve them all with time. I've got a list. :)  
Beware of infrequent and sporadic updates beyond this point.  
_


	10. Julia's Slip of the Tongue

**A/N:**_ Please, please forgive me for abandoning this fic for so long. It went such great guns and then it basically died for six months. But I'm reviving it! See._

_This chapter serves two purposes: to get my mindset back into the fic, and to set the stage for the Hallowe'en adventure I have planned for these kids. The story will take on a bit of a different style for a couple of chapters after this, but then I hope it'll get back to normal. Really I just clung on to the first plot bunny that came along in order to get the story going again._

_Updates won't be frequent, but I'm hoping they'll be more frequent than the never they've been. I have big plans for this quartet, and I have no intention to abandon them completely. _

_Thanks for staying tuned:) _

_PS. If you wouldn't mind mentioning in any comments you might feel inclined to give if I'm making Winnie a bit over the top, I'd appreciate it. I need a life force in the group, and shy-girl Julia, patient Teddy and smart-kid Oliver don't quite fulfill that void. I'm just not sure if she's a bit too much life, or if I'm just being overly critical of my own work. Thaaaaank you!_

* * *

Life at Hogwarts over the next month became almost normal in comparison to the exciting first few weeks. Teddy did indeed get used to his odd magnetism toward Riley, which was fortunate as they shared a dorm, and the situation had the potential to get rather awkward. Riley had taken to keeping his distance, although they were still on relatively good speaking terms; they just both felt most comfortable if they were shouting at one another from opposite sides of the come common room, and so that is what they most often did.

Teddy had received two letters from Harry on the subject. The first had come quite soon after and read only:

_I'll talk to Poppy._

The second took much longer to come, and was much less direct.  
_  
She's stubborn, and actually quite good with a wand once you get her angry. Whatever she knows, she's not passing along. I'll stay on it, but I think it might be best if you_ (and then there was a good lot of scratching out) _just get used to things. It doesn't seem to be curable. Although there have been cases before. Just stick with it. I'll let you know if anything changes._

Teddy lay this letter down on the table and frowned down at it, pressing his fingertips together pensively. "Hmm."

"Harry helpful?" Winnie asked in what she clearly seemed to think was an offhand tone through a mouthful of bacon.

"Not terribly."

Winnie leaned over and read the letter over. "I'll say." She shook her head. "I don't know how you stay so calm about this stuff, Teds. I'd be going nuts trying to find out everything I can. I mean, it's not a minor problem."

Teddy sighed and ran his hands over his face, followed by a checking over of the features to make sure everything was in its proper place. "I know. But if no one wants to tell me about it, it's probably not that important anyway. I may as well just let it go."

Oliver snorted into his pumpkin juice. "Teddy, you wouldn't let a feral dog go if you didn't know how to help it."

Julia giggled as Winnie read the letter over a second time with a frown. "Poppy mentioned it had happened before, too. Neither of them seem willing to go much into it." Winnie gasped dramatically. "Maybe you're cursed! Terminally cursed. And no one wants to say anything because... well, frankly it's hardly sensitive to just come right out and tell someone who's ill that they're simply _dying_."

"Winnie," Oliver said loudly. "Stop talking."

"MERLIN IT'S TRUE."

"No. You're just making an arse out of yourself. I wanted to save you that humiliation."

Winnie frowned. "You know, the more comfortable you get around here, the crankier you seem to get."

"I'm hardly cranky," Oliver stated, and it was true; he was sporting a broad grin. "I'm being witty. There's a difference."

Teddy continued to frown down at his oatmeal as Winnie and Oliver launched into their breakfast banter, something that was becoming a daily occurrence. Eventually Teddy looked up to see Julia peering over her orange juice at him. "What?" he asked.

"I... I just think that... maybe one of these former cases might be pertaining to... I mean..." Julia cleared her throat. "Maybe there's a reason Madam Pomfrey and Harry are tiptoeing around this issue."

Teddy frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It makes sense why Madam Pomfrey might not say anything. Doctor-patient confidentiality, right? But... Harry's a pretty... pretty powerful Auror, isn't he?"

"Head of the department."

"Right. So he could probably get that information out of her if he wanted to. But it still doesn't make sense why he wouldn't tell you unless... unless there was a reason why you shouldn't know."

Teddy shook his head. "That's not like Harry."

Julia looked sympathetic. "He wasn't exactly upfront about the Wolfsbane potion until you badgered him about it. Nor about how you fall ill every..." she trailed off and looked up at Teddy with a terrified expression on her face.

The comment was not lost on Teddy. He stared at Julia evenly, torn between curiosity and horror. Winnie and Oliver looked up with raised eyebrows, feeling the tension emanating from Teddy as Julia blushed and looked down at her oatmeal. "No one else was in the room for that conversation," he said in an even, low tone as the seconds ticked by.

"I... I know, I mean, I was just... coming back from the washroom, and..."

"How much did you hear?" he continued in the same low tone. He felt his hair stand on end. Julia looked at Teddy with wide eyes.

"All of it," she whispered. "I'm really sorry, Teddy, I didn't mean..."

"What are you two talking about?" Winnie asked curiously, glancing at Teddy and starting slightly at the sight of him. "Geez, Ted, chill out. I've never seen you this on edge before."

Teddy glanced at Julia and finally registered how pale she was looking as she recoiled under his gaze. He forced his eyes closed and shook his head hard, forcing the brown droopy mop onto his head. "It's nothing," he muttered into his oatmeal. "Sorry."

"No, that was definitely something," Winnie pressed, staring hard at Teddy. "What conversation? When do you fall ill?"

"Winnie," Oliver said. "I think Teddy's made it pretty clear he's not keen on talking about it. Just let it drop."

Winnie turned toward Oliver and opened her mouth as though to argue, but seemed to think better of it at the last minute, settling instead for a shrug as she shoveled a piece of toast into her mouth. Oliver raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked to Teddy as though to exchange a glance, but Teddy was still downcast toward his breakfast. Oliver looked sideways at Julia, who was staring with a knitted brow at her own plate. Winnie seemed to simply refuse to comment on anything further for the meal, and responded to Oliver's questions with an indifferent shrug or an enthusiastic stuffing of her face. Oliver sighed and finished his meal in relative silence until Hagrid stumbled into the Great Hall carrying a very, very large pumpkin.

Winnie squealed. Loudly. Teddy winced and brought up a finger as though to clean out his ear.

"Hallowe'en! It's Hallowe'en! Today!" she exclaimed, dancing on the spot.

"Tomorrow," Oliver corrected automatically, smiling.

"Tomorrow!" she proclaimed with equal enthusiasm. "Oh, it'll be such fun, I can't wait for the feast."

"How you keep packing away all that food is of endless curiosity to me, Wins," Oliver grinned, happy to have vocal company back. "You're like six inches high."

Winnie gasped and tried to look scandalized. "I will have you know that I'm seven inches at least, Oliver Kirkpatrick," she scolded with a grin. "Besides, I need to build my strength. The Quidditch match against Slytherin is only two weeks away."

Oliver's grin widened as he stared off into the distance fondly. "Ah, yes. I can see it now. 'Thumbelina crushed by The Incredible Hulk: The Tragic Death of Winnifred Wood'."

"Har har. And I wish you would quit calling me that thumb thing, I have no ruddy idea what that means. And what's a Helk?"

"It's... nevermind," Oliver said as he rose from his chair. The group left the hall and sauntered toward their class, chatting merrily about Hallowe'en.

All except Teddy. Teddy was silently considering how disastrous it was that Julia knew his father had been a werewolf. Her somewhat odd behavior was now mostly explained (aside from the disappearing, but Teddy decided to set that aside for now). She has certainly recoiled when Teddy was interrogating her. The rational part of his mind was telling him that he hadn't exactly reacted kindly to the news that she knew and that she was probably just afraid he'd get angry, but the other, significantly larger portion of his brain was quite convinced that she was just generally afraid of him now. Werewolves were sketchy characters, after all. She had certainly been avoiding him when he had been acting off after he'd just gotten out of the hospital wing. Hadn't she stepped out of his reach when he'd put out an arm to comfort her? She obviously would already have known at that point... and sure, she seemed calm at all other times, but he'd just gotten over his monthly bout of the 'flu' a couple weeks ago. Maybe she thought the new moon had an effect on him, too. Maybe she thought he was really dangerous, and that's why she'd 'accidentally' let it slip in front of their friends. Maybe—

"So, Teddy, I went skinny-dipping with your godfather the other night, he's super hot," Winnie said offhandedly, flipping her hair back.

"You do realize that every time you say something like that, my skeleton tries to crawl out of my skin, right?" Teddy scowled.

"Aaah. Someone's still a Cranky Frank."

"I am not a Cranky Frank," Teddy said stubbornly, crossing his arms and pouting.

"Uh-huh. Whatever you say, Sullen Sully."

"Stop nicknaming me."

"Stop being a mope and I won't have to. What's up with you today?"

"Nothing."

"Convincing." She nodded knowingly and swept into the classroom. Oliver clapped him on the back and offered a small smile before going in after her. Teddy made to follow suit, but a hand grabbed him around the wrist.

"Can I... er, can we... talk for a second?" Julia asked meekly, but with a determined expression. Teddy held back and nodded behind her, indicating an empty classroom. It was about as close to privacy as they were going to get at Hogwarts... unless Peeves showed up.

Julia shut the door quietly behind her and immediately started babbling. "I didn't mean to let it slip, Teddy, I really didn't, they don't know anything I don't think, I dropped a couple of werewolf jokes when we were talking about Hallowe'en and they didn't respond strangely at all, and I don't care that your dad was a werewolf or that you might have some of his tendencies, I mean it makes you different, but you're so unafraid to be different that I think it kinda helps who you are, and I know werewolves are seen as dangerous but they can't all be, I mean, that's why there was is the Wolfsbane potion, to help people who _don't_ want to hurt people at the full moon, and even if I hadn't overheard the conversation I was starting to clue in right away anyway, when I heard Madam Pomfrey mention the Wolfsbane potion and then when she actually administered it to you I figured you were probably a werewolf, but then I figured out that it wouldn't make sense if you were because I was with you all that night and you didn't transform even without the potion, you were just unconscious, and so I was in the process of figuring it out when I overheard and I'm sorry, I'm just really sorry, I promise I'll be more careful, and—"

Teddy had gotten up off the desk he had seated himself on, strode over to where Julia was still standing near the door, and wrapped her in a huge hug. Julia faltered silent and hugged him back after a moment. "Thank you," he muttered into her hair.

Julia sniffed. "For what?" she whispered incredulously.

"For not being afraid of me."

Julia broke away and shook her head. "Why would I be afraid of you? You're still Teddy. I only want to help. That's where my sentence was going before you cut me off, actually..." She took a deep breath. "I think your Riley-smelling thing is really related to your werewolfish attributes. That's why I kept asking you to talk to Harry. I thought he'd tell you, but... maybe there's more to it than I thought."

"Well, dear Julia," Teddy said fondly, quite happy to be back on good terms with his best friend, "the overactive sense of smell does tend to come with the wolfish territory."

"I don't mean just that," she insisted, shaking her head hard. "I mean more that everyone seems to be beating around the bush about something or other. They're all saying it's happened before, but they won't say who. It makes sense that it would have been..."

"My dad," Teddy finished for her, looking pensive. Actually, it did make sense. Madam Pomfrey wasn't necessarily aware that Teddy knew his father's history, and Harry was still trying to protect him from the conclusion Teddy would inevitably come to (and already had) that he was somehow turning into a werewolf. "But why?" he asked suddenly. "If my dad did have it before me, why did it happen, and why was it Riley? Or whoever it was for dad," Teddy added.

Julia smiled grimly. "You know more about werewolfishness than I do. I just know potions."

Teddy retreated into thought again. It was worthwhile finding someone who would tell him frankly what was going on. "Usually I'd go to Harry, but he's not being straightforward. All of dad's school friends were dead before he was, so that cancels them out." Julia winced at Teddy's offhand tone. "As far as I know, my grandparents on dad's side are dead. Hermione would know a bit about werewolves, but she'll likely just tell me to go ask Harry." Teddy felt his hair turn black in frustration, and he ran his hand through it.

"What about someone at the school?" Julia prompted.

"Madam Pomfrey knew the most about his werewolfishness," Teddy mused, "but she's not talking. McGonagall might have known, but I don't think she'd tell me much either."

Julia suddenly snapped her fingers. "What about Hagrid?" she asked excitedly. "He likes magical creatures, right? And he's well-acquainted with the grounds..."

Teddy nodded slowly. "If there was going to be anyone else who knew, it'd be Hagrid. Dumbledore obviously knew, but since I'm not keen to stumble into McGonagall's office to talk to a portrait... Dumbledore really trusted Hagrid too." Teddy nodded with resolve and slid off the desk. "I think I've got to go talk to him now. You'd best go on to Transfiguration, I can stand to miss a lesson..."

But Julia was shaking her head. "Can I... I mean, would it be all right if I came with you?"

Teddy frowned. "Are you sure you want to?"

Julia nodded. "I really want to help. It's... the least I can do?"

He smiled. "If you're sure. It... it might not be a pleasant visit."

"That's okay," she said with resolve, waving off his comment. "I got myself involved in this, the least I can do is help you figure things out now."

The thought Teddy had pushed to the back of his mind suddenly sprang to the forefront. "How did you overhear us?" he asked suddenly. "You disappeared beforehand. Completely. Julia-style poof."

Teddy thought he saw terror, or recognition, flash in Julia's eyes, but after an uncertain moment she looked at the floor. "I... I was coming back from the washroom..."

"I've heard that one before, Julia," he said quietly. "I think I'm not the only one hiding something here."

Julia blushed and didn't look up. "I... I just..."

"Hey, okay, no pressure," he said quietly. "I'm just concerned."

"I know," she whispered. "Someday. Someday I'll tell you, I promise. Just... not now, okay?"

"Sure, Julia." The friends slipped out of the classroom and snuck out of the castle together in silence, headed across the grounds towards Hagrid's cabin in the autumn air. 


	11. Remus' Suspension

Teddy raised a hand and knocked firmly on the door of the gamekeeper's cabin. Fang began barking from within, but Hagrid's voice growled over his through the door.

"I don' know anythin', I tell yeh, I'm not involved with the house-elf strike, never was, an'—oh, Teddy," he finished as he opened the door to regard the first-years on the front stoop. A smile appeared under his beard. "Sorry abou' that you two, been bein' hassled about the house-elf dispute... think I put 'em up to it... no matter, come in then," he finished, sweeping them inside with one giant hand.

"Why do they think you're behind it?" Teddy asked as he sat down at the table.

"Ah... I've always bin sympathetic with magical creatures. Got me expelled in me third year. Weren't my fault, see... accused o' somethin' I didn't do. House elves, though... if they want to work, ain't my place to say boo about it. I'm not sure we should be forcin' 'em to go back to work if they don't want to, but if they're bein' coerced out of their jobs, which they enjoy, that's not right either."

"Who's hassling you about it?" Teddy asked, momentarily forgetting their mission.

"Ministry ghouls," Hagrid said dismissively, waving a giant hand as though they should let the subject drop.

"Literal ghouls?" asked Julia, wide-eyed.

"Nah, nah. Just the likes which neither Harry nor the Minister for Magic can remove from the system due to certain deeds an', er, monetary incentives they've done to land 'em where they are. Thugs, really. Ain't the first time I've been hassled for similar things. So long as they don't send me to Azkaban, it isn' more than a nuisance. Don' worry yourselves about it. Now," he said, voice booming. "I'm righ' certain that the two of you are supposed to be in Transfiguration at the moment. Mind explainin' just what brings you down here mid-lesson?"

Teddy looked at Julia, who shot him a shaky smile. Teddy swallowed and stared at the ground. "I came to ask you some things about my dad."

Hagrid's eyebrows shot up. "I'm guessin' you mean when he was younger, since anythin' else would be more suitably answered by Harry."

"That's the thing," Teddy interjected. "Harry won't tell me a thing, he's being really evasive. He obviously knows the answer to my questions, but he just doesn't want to tell me."

Hagrid shook his head. "That doesn' sound like Harry."

"I know, and that's why I'm coming to you. Either it's classified for some auror reason, or he's trying to protect me from something."

"If tha's the case, Teddy, I'm not sure I want to answer your question even if I'd be able to. If Harry thinks—"

"Hagrid, I'm not going to let this go," Teddy interrupted firmly. "At least hear what I have to say before you declare your undying support of what Harry thinks is the best thing for me."

Hagrid frowned and nodded. "All righ'. What do you want to know?"

Here Teddy hesitated. "How well did you know my father when he was in school?"

Hagrid frowned in contemplation. "I didn' really know him beyond detention. Him, James, Sirius an' Peter arrived at my cabin on an almost weekly basis for their next trek into the forest. He was always really mild-mannered... kept smilin' when I mentioned werewol—" Hagrid suddenly trailed off with wide eyes and stared off into the distance, as though a manner to fix his sentence would come suddenly to him out of thin air.

"It's all right," said Julia and Teddy together. "I know," Julia continued.

Hagrid sputtered on for a second before trailing off and smiling at the two friends. "Good fer you, Teddy, trustin' yer friends."

"Ah... well, Julia somehow overheard me and Harry talking when I was in the hospital wing last month. Oliver and Winnie don't know," he said quietly with a blush, hair a light orange.

"Ah. Hardly an easy topic," Hagrid added, nodding. "Can' say boo about my bein' half-giant to most folk, they get all skiddish-like. Nothin' like our Julia here," he said with a smile, beckoning to the small girl whose eyes had immediately illuminated with intrigue at Hagrid's confession. Teddy smiled fondly at Julia, who returned the gesture at both of them before Hagrid returned to the conversation at hand. "All the same, he was a good kid. Had a few discussions abou' creatures, what was really dangerous and what wasn't. Seemed to trust me in the matter more than any o' the textbooks he was readin'. Booksmart like Hermione, sure, but practical like Harry."

"But you didn't know he was a werewolf until he was an adult?" Teddy prompted, somewhat desperately.

"Ah… I had my hunches. Still, it shocked me a might when I heard about it after he joined the Order when he was seventeen. In hindsight it all makes perfect sense… still, I didn' learn most o' what he'd done while he was at Hogwarts until the last few years before he, ah… before he passed, once he started teachin' at Hogwarts."

"He taught here?" Julia asked.

"Mmhmm, for one year, until people found out he was a werewolf. 'Course, Dumbledore wouldn' ever have fired 'im, but he resigned anyhow and got out of dodge before the owls started bringing in angry letters, or worse. But like I say, as a kid I barely knew 'im outside o' detention. Ev'ry now an' again I'd see him studying out on the grounds and exchange a few friendly words, but other than that, there wasn' a lot of contact between us. Except…" Hagrid frowned and poured himself some tea. "There was one time, I think it was yer father's third year, when he stayed with me in this very cabin for about two days. Strange times, though; he wasn' himself."

"Why'd he stay with you?" asked Teddy.

"Not sure," Hagrid said simply. "Never was told the reason."

Teddy exchanged a glance with Julia. "What do you mean?"

"Dumbledore brought him here for an emergency, but kept it all a secret. Brought him here in the middle of the night, bangin' on the door like I was hard o' hearin' or somethin'. I get out o' bed and open the door and there's Dumbledore, robes torn up, gashes all over his face, with a scared-lookin' boy with him…."

-

_"May we come in, Hagrid?" Dumbledore asked quietly, interrupting Hagrid's words of astonishment at the state of him. He kept his left hand firm on the boy's shoulder while his right held his illuminated wand at the ready. "Pardon the intrusion, but I'm afraid it's rather urgent."_

_"O' course, Professor," Hagrid said, sweeping them inside with a gigantic hand._

_"Thank you." Dumbledore guided the boy in, softly instructing him to sit down at the large wooden table in the centre of the cabin. "Some tea, if you wouldn't mind, Hagrid."_

_Hagrid nodded and placed the kettle on the stove. "This is Rubeus Hagrid, our gamekeeper," he told the boy. "I'm sure you've met before, with the frequency that you and your friends find yourself in detention as of late."_

_The boy mumbled something indistinguishable. Hagrid puttered awkwardly around his tiny kitchen, hesitant to sit down at the table for fear of interrupting. "Just two cups of tea, Hagrid, I'm afraid I won't be staying very long. There's been a series of accidents today at the castle that I must unfortunately attend to. I am merely seeking a refuge for Remus until the danger has passed," Dumbledore said delicately._

_"What happened? Is everyone all righ'?" Hagrid asked, gesticulating at the Headmaster's robes._

_"It would be best if Remus stayed away from the castle for a while." Dumbledore continued as though he hadn't heard. "Would it be an intrusion if he stayed with you for a few days?"_

_"Not at all," Hagrid said immediately. "Although I don'…"_

_Dumbledore waved his wand and a squishy purple sleeping bag appeared on the floor at the back of the cabin. Hagrid petered off and smiled at the Headmaster. "Nevermind," he said quietly._

_"Thank you, Hagrid. Now, if you wouldn't mind accompanying me to the door, I have a matter to discuss with you. Remus," he turned to the boy. "You must stay put, do you understand? You aren't to leave the cabin unless it is in absolute emergency. You are not to attend classes. You are not to see your friends. If they sneak out in an attempt to visit you, you must send them away in whatever manner you can. I will certainly keep you apprised of the situation, but if you need to speak with me, you know what to do."_

_Remus nodded and started at the table. Dumbledore clapped him gently on the shoulder before striding to the door beside Hagrid. "Professor," Remus said suddenly. Dumbledore turned on the spot and regarded the boy evenly. "Will I have to leave Hogwarts?" he asked shakily, voice cracking._

_"I will do everything within my power to ensure that doesn't occur," Dumbledore said. Remus swallowed hard and nodded slowly, meeting Hagrid's eyes momentarily before returning his gaze to the table. Dumbledore watched him for a moment before pushing open the cabin door and placing Hagrid between himself and the boy._

_"You must keep him within your sight at all times," Dumbledore told the gamekeeper under his breath. "He's not to be around any other students or, in fact, anyone besides myself. If at any time you cannot locate him, you must alert me _immediately_. I cannot stress this enough: it is a first-rate priority."_

_"If you don't mind me askin'… what happened? Maybe I'm lookin' into things, but when he looked at me just a minute ago, I saw a… a wildness in 'im, yeh know?"_

_Dumbledore stared at Hagrid for a moment. "Unfortunately, for the protection of this boy as well as the one who is lying in the hospital wing at this moment for the second time today, I feel I cannot disclose that information. I apologize, Hagrid; it is not an issue of trust. The only three people who are aware of the full situation are myself, Remus Lupin, and Poppy Pomfrey, and I fear that's the way it must stay. I must ask that you don't pursue the matter, which includes not asking the boy what happened. All right?"_

_Although thoroughly confused, Hagrid nodded. Dumbledore smiled grimly and grabbed Hagrid's arm affectionately. "Thank you, my friend," he said._

_"Bah," Hagrid said, waving aside the apology with a smile. Dumbledore nodded at Hagrid and swept back up the hill toward the castle._

-

"He was with me for two days. Didn' say a single word; I'd ask him questions and he'd nod or shake his head and we'd go about our own business, me goin' about the grounds an' him followin' me with his nose in a book. Eventually Dumbledore came down an' told him he could go back ter school. He was so glad he cried a little, and then asked what happened with the boy. Dumbledore'd only say that he wasn' at Hogwarts anymore and wouldn' elaborate. I asked Dumbledore abou' it later but he only shook his head an' asked me not to ask again, so I ne'er did."

Teddy swallowed hard in an attempt to swallow this new information. "Did you ever hear what happened?"

"Nah. Eventually I forgot… long time ago, yeh know. One time I did ask Remus directly, when he was with the Order, but he turned pale and asked if we could change the subject. I never knew if he got attacked or the other boy did, an' one of 'em got in the way of t'other, or if he attacked Remus an' Remus hurt him in self-defense…" Hagrid shook his head. "Never caught word."

"Hmm," Teddy said pensively. "But you knew a lot of the talk between teachers, didn't you? Sort of knew what strange things were going on inside the castle?"

"Not back then, no. Never been one for spendin' much time inside the castle, let alone the staff room. Anythin' I knew, I knew from Dumbledore."

"Well that's disheartening," Teddy said with a knitted brow. Julia patted him consolingly on the back.

Hagrid frowned. "Why are you askin', anyway?"

Teddy sighed and gesticulated for a moment, searching for the right words. "Lately I've been smelling Riley, and I don't know why. Just… smelling him. Faceplant into his ribcage. I'm crazy about his internals for some reason. I've learned to control it for the most part, but it's still worrisome. I get this… this hunger..." Teddy swallowed. "Harry and Madam Pomfrey will both tell me that it's happened before, but they won't say who, when, or _why_. Julia, having excellent powers of deduction which I clearly lack, noted that it may have been dad that it happened to before, and that they're reluctant to tell me for reasons of protection or something."

Hagrid frowned. "Yer in the same house as he is, aren' yeh?"

Before Teddy had a chance to respond, the back door of the cabin burst open; Winnie tumbled in excitedly, while Oliver fell in behind her in an attempt to hold her back. "It's a curse!" she exclaimed as she scrambled toward the table. "Think about it, Teds. The day Julia joins our house, not to blame her or anything, you start smelling Riley. It's weird, right? But Slytherins are weird! And they weren't too pleased when we gained the brilliant advantage that is Julia Wright."

"I tried to hold her back, I'm sorry," Oliver breathed, looking indignantly toward the flushed girl.

Teddy, Hagrid and Julia all stared at the pair. "You were listening at the door?" Teddy asked croakily.

Winnie nodded, not bothering to be shy about it. "Started wondering where you and Julia went off to, so we caused a distraction and snuck out while Everard was dealing with it. Saw you creeping into Hagrid's cabin, so we followed suit. Got held back by that wanker Filch—"

"How much did you hear?" Teddy interjected calmly but assertively.

Winnie shrugged dejectedly. "Just the tail end of Hagrid's story… how your dad was almost expelled but no one knows why. Interesting that you think your case of the Smellsies might be genetic. Don't really know what the story has to do with it, it's probably that horrid Vincent Vorkson. But don't you want to hear about how we got away from Filch?" she finished excitedly. Oliver rolled his eyes behind her.

Teddy waved her off, ignoring the latter part of her outburst. "Don't you know it's rude to eavesdrop?"

"Well, since we weren't invited to the party in the first place, you didn't exactly leave us with many options," she stated crankily. "If you'd prefer, we could leave…" she made toward the door.

"Oh for pity's sake, stay," Teddy said resignedly, relieved that he hadn't been discovered.

Winnie smiled and plonked herself down on a chair beside Hagrid, helping herself to one of the biscuits on the table. Oliver, with an apologetic smile at Teddy, sat down beside her. "For the record, I'm not convinced the Slytherins have anything to do with this," he said.

"What makes yeh think the Slytherins have anythin' to do with it?" Hagrid asked.

Winnie shrugged. "They don't like us, and they know we don't like them. Makes more sense than anything else."

"Tell me yeh don' buy into this alleged rivalry," Hagrid challenged.

Winnie raised her eyebrows at Hagrid. "Need only walk into one of our Transfiguration classes to see that it's more than alleged."

"Maybe for you, Win," Oliver said. "In case you haven't noticed, the rest of us are merely ignoring it."

"Pacifist," she said teasingly, sticking her tongue out at Oliver.

"Hardly," Oliver said. "Merely not seeking conflict where it could be avoided."

"Pah-sih-fist," she enunciated again.

"Hey!" Julia shouted suddenly. Every head in the room snapped in her direction, shocked at the outburst. "Did you come here to help Teddy, or not?" she asked Winnie, eyes blazing.

Winnie opened her mouth to reply, faltered, and opted to nod instead. "Sorry, Teds," she said sincerely.

Teddy cracked a reluctant smile and shrugged. "Next time, just walk through the front door."

Winnie returned the smile. "So, in all honesty, why do you think your father might have something to do with it?"

Teddy stared at her and blinked. "I just don't know a lot about him. If it happened before and everyone's hiding who and when from me, it makes sense that it might be a… a genetic problem that they're afraid to endow me with. Unfortunately I can't make that judgement for myself, so I have to get Hagrid to make it for me."

"All right, all right, no need to get defensive," Winnie said, throwing her hands up. "Is there any chance that this event that Hagrid described could be connected?"

Teddy and Julia shrugged. "To be honest, even if they're not connected, I'd like to know more about what happened," Teddy said. "Unfortunately I doubt Madam Pomfrey would be willing to tell me anything, and Dumbledore is about as available to ask as is my father…"

Hagrid frowned. "I wonder if that's so. You've have to get permission from McGonagall, mind, an' she's a might busy at the mo'…"

Teddy lit up suddenly with comprehension. "Dumbledore's portrait?"

Hagrid nodded and smiled. "Shadow o' the man himself, o'course, but…"

"No, Hagrid, that's brilliant. I… I don't suppose she'd just let me up there to talk to him if I asked her, though…"

Hagrid waved a hand. "I go up to talk to him often, don' see why she should suspect that I'm smugglin' anyone under me cloak…"

Teddy broke into a slow grin. "Hagrid, are you sure? I mean, you are a professor… will you get in trouble?"

Hagrid stood from the table. "Don' you worry abou' me. If Harry's not willin' to help yeh, I don' see why I shouldn'. It's what he would have done. For now, though, you lot have to get to class, all of yeh. Git!" he said, ushering them out the door.

Winnie stared blankly. "Oh. Yes. Please. Please can we go to History of Magic. It's such my favourite course, I could just _die_ from excitement."

Oliver ruffled her hair with a grin. "Come on, Wins. You were just complaining about what a shoddy sleep you had last night, you could use the nap."

Winnie brightened as she followed Oliver out the front door. "That's true! Plus I've got to recover from my _excellent escape from Filch_, which everyone has _yet to ask about_…"

"Cheers, Hagrid," Teddy said once the pair was out of earshot.

Hagrid smiled. "I'll meet yeh outside yer common room this evening at seven, all righ'?"

"Sounds good," Teddy grinned. He closed the door behind him and started up the hill after Oliver and Winnie. "Julia, can I ask you to…" Teddy peered around him. "Julia?" Seeing her nowhere around, Teddy ran back to Hagrid cabin and peered inside the window. It was clear that he and Fang were the only ones inside. Frowning, he ran to catch up with the others. "You lot see where Julia went?"

Oliver stopped and pirouetted on the spot. "She's gone again, hasn't she?"

Teddy frowned at this wording. "She's hasn't _gone_, she's just…"

"Gone?" Winnie prompted with raised eyebrows.

Teddy frowned harder. "I wish she'd just _tell me_ what keeps happening, or where she keeps going, or… what's going on."

"Hardly the epitome of divulgence yourself, mister definitely-hiding-something-in-there," Winnie said, nodding toward the cabin. "It's your prerogative whether you want to share or not, but I hardly find it fair that you expect to be told when you aren't telling." She turned on her heel and stomped off toward the castle by herself.

Teddy stared after her. Oliver shook his head beside him. "The day we figure girls out will be a glorious day for both of us, mate," he said, clapping him on the shoulder and heading slowly up toward the castle.

Teddy blinked hard. Standing alone on the grounds, he peered around once more for Julia. Seeing no sign of her, Teddy felt he had no choice but to head to Professor Binns' classroom alone.


	12. The Incident

"All righ', we're here," Teddy heard Hagrid say after what felt like an eternity. He burst out from under Hagrid's coat, trying not to appear too frantic as he gulped for fresh air. "Sorry it took so long, the gargoyle didn' seem too pleased ter let me in."

"No worries," Teddy managed in a strangled voice. He was promptly distracted from his pulmonary distress, however, as he took in the magnificence of the Headmistress' office.

Teddy's first impression was that Hagrid had mistakenly led him into a royal chamber of some kind. Rich burgundy and blue fabric clung to every surface and wall; chalices of gold and silver sat on top of a magnificent bookshelf with wizarding books Teddy had never heard of before. A tawny owl hooted softly on her perch in the corner. Perhaps the most chaotic part of the room was the Headmistress' mahogany desk, which was overloaded with papers and reports. Behind the desk hung the portraits of every Headmaster Hogwarts had ever head, each of them regarding the small boy with varying degrees of curiosity. Finally Teddy laid eyes on the portrait furthest left; a white-haired wizard with a long, equally white beard peered at Teddy with amusement over his half-moon glasses, fingertips pressed together.

"Does Minerva know there is a student in her office, Hagrid?" Dumbledore asked lightly.

"Not exactly, sir, no," Hagrid mumbled.

"I thought not," he continued, ever-smiling. "She expressed plans to meet with the Minister and certain Aurors with regard to the house-elf situation this week. I don't suppose you knew this, Hagrid?"

"She might've mentioned it," Hagrid said, speaking to his shoes.

"Well, I daresay this must be important for Hagrid to have broken Minerva's rules," Dumbledore said amicably to Teddy. "May I help you with something?"

"I… I'm here to ask you some questions about the past," Teddy said confidently.

Dumbledore nodded. "Do sit down," he advised, beckoning at McGonagall's chair behind the desk.

Hagrid placed a hand on Teddy's shoulder. "I'll be waitin' outside," he muttered to the boy. Teddy nodded; Hagrid smiled fleetingly at Dumbledore before striding out the door. Teddy shuffled forward, suddenly more intimidated now that he was by himself in the Headmistress' office, and settled himself into the oversized chair. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Professor," he managed through a dry mouth.

"Is it? I always wondered," Dumbledore smiled. "You must be Theodore Lupin." Teddy gaped in shock. "Your hair was a nasty shade of purple when you walked in," Dumbledore explained. "It is now fading to a brown much similar to your mother's. Unfortunately, true Metamorphmagi are rare enough to be instantly recognizable. That is, unless they've morphed into someone else."

"I try to keep my abilities, er, under a hat," Teddy admitted, "but I find it harder the more magic is in the air, and, well, Hogwarts…"

"Ah, yes, it would serve a hindrance. It took your mother until her seventh year to harness her abilities, and I daresay you've already got a jump on her in that respect."

"I can't do my face yet," he said hastily.

"It will come with time," Dumbledore said. "Now, Theodore…"

"Call me Teddy. Please. Sir."

If Dumbledore noticed Teddy's blush, he gave no indication. "Teddy, if you don't mind my asking: why did you come here tonight? More specifically, why did you come to _me_?"

Teddy paused before answering, organizing his thoughts. "I've inherited a couple of my dad's…" Teddy stopped, peering hesitantly down at the line of faces. "Ah, a few of my dad's… characteristics. Nothing terrible, just getting sick every, ah, four weeks or so, and… and I find…"

"It's all right, Teddy," Dumbledore said. "Remus spent enough time in my office in his year of professorship here that everyone here is already well aware of his, ah, 'furry little problem', as he called it."

Teddy swallowed. "Right. Well, lately I've been compelled by the smell of another student, a friend of mine. He doesn't smell any particular way that's different from anyone else, but being around him makes me… _hungry_. Hungry in a way that's different from my usual hunger, like… like bloodlust, almost." Teddy looked intently at his shoes; this was the first time he'd admitted aloud that his compulsion to Riley was pure bloodlust. Here he was, admitting something he was ashamed of to a wall of portraits holding important people. At his admission, some portraits further down the line gasped; some merely clucked their tongues unappreciatively; the portrait next to Dumbledore merely regarded Teddy with disgust (although it struck Teddy that this had not changed since the moment he'd stepped into the room). "I spoke with Madam Pomfrey about it, and she said it had happened before but wouldn't disclose when, or to whom, or what had happened, or why it was happening to me. I spoke with my godfather as well, and he told me to simply forget about it, which—"

"Is rather unlike Harry," Dumbledore interjected, nodding understandingly.

"Right." Teddy sighed. "I hate this. I want to know why it's happening. One of my friends—she knows about his problem—suggested it might have to do with dad. We figured that Professor McGonagall has a bit on her mind, and we couldn't think of anyone else who would have known about his problem when he was at school, so we went down to talk to Hagrid…"

"And he told you about the incident in your father's third year, about which I refused to disclose any information to him," Dumbledore interrupted.

Teddy nodded. "The only people who would have known what would have happened that day were all, well, er… dead," he concluded. "So Hagrid offered to help me talk to the best authority on the matter: you." Teddy swallowed. "I realize that you don't want to betray the confidence of the other involved party, but if it is relevant in any way to my problem…"

Dumbledore nodded slowly, staring at the ceiling with raised eyebrows and holding his fingertips together. "You have inherited your mother's curiosity," Dumbledore noted without looking at Teddy.

Teddy snorted lightly with amusement. "Most people tell me I got it from my godfather."

"Ah, well, that too, but you can hardly inherit a trait from someone you are not related to by blood," Dumbledore granted, smiling lightly. "You've also inherited a knack possessed by both your father and Harry: excellent reasoning. You are right to see a connection between your father's incident and your issue of compulsion to your friend; it would make sense that it is less if you have exhibited only residual signs of werewolfish tendencies."

"That hardly makes it easy to contend with," Teddy mumbled.

"No, I would guess not." Dumbledore peered and the boy, dwarfed by the chair, seated in front of him. Staring nostalgically at the wall behind Teddy, Dumbledore began recounting 'the incident'.

"The morning before the incident occurred, we had a problem between two second-year students. One of the boys, whom we shall call Gunther for the sake of anonymity, was being taunted by a house-mate for his poor transfiguration. Gunther lost his temper and tried to curse his house-mate, but he was too quick for Gunther, as well as a tad overzealous with his wand, and knocked him clear across the room. Naturally, Gunther was knocked unconscious; such was the force of the curse that rennervation charms would not work. We thought it best to contact Gunther's family and let them know of the injury.

"The following morning, Gunther's elder brother and sole caretaker, whom we shall call Eugene, again for anonymity's sake, arrived at Hogwarts. Eugene, who was of non-magical persuasion, felt quite out of place at his brother's school. Eugene was hardly the cheeriest of folk; without realizing the reaction his words would incur, Eugene began muttering under his breath some rather derogatory things about wizards and witches on his way to the hospital wing to visit his brother. At the time, some particularly big-headed seventh years were passing, overheard his remarks and began questioning Eugene quite aggressively. When they determined that he was of what some believe to be a deplorable blood status, the seventh-years began using magic to toy with him.

"This was, of course, mid-morning on a regular school day; students and teachers were filing through the halls at a regular rate. The potions teacher at the time, Professor Slughorn, happened by as Eugene began to hover in the air at the hand of the aggressive seventh-years. Without thinking, Professor Slughorn disarmed the boys, which sent poor Eugene in a head-first freefall onto the stone floors, with rather gruesome results. Eugene was promptly taken to the hospital wing and patched up, as I understand it, with no trouble at all; he was given a potion for his pain and lay next to his brother Gunther in the hospital wing for the remainder of the day. Fortunately, Gunther recovered from his unidentified curse, and so Eugene had a conversation partner while he recovered in this strange and unwelcoming place.

"What I did not learn until much later was that your father, Remus, and his friends were walking through the same corridor in which Eugene took his spill at the moment at which it happened. Naturally, four thirteen-year-old boys are not going to pass up an excuse to hover around a potential fight scene. Remus spent just enough time in the presence of Eugene's blood to get a good whiff of it before being ushered away by Professor Slughorn.

"Eugene, feeling better by evening, expressed a wish to get some fresh air. Gunther negotiated with Madam Pomfrey, and the brothers slipped out the front doors and took a short walk around the grounds.

"At this exact moment, Remus and his compatriots were returning from the Quidditch pitch after an evening of flying around the stands. A gust of wind brought Eugene's scent to Remus' nose. I gather at this point, Remus lost consciousness of what he was doing; from here I rely on the eye-witness accounts of his friends. Remus stopped in his tracks and turned slowly in the direction of the area where Eugene and Gunther were walking. He did not respond to his friends' inquiries as to what he was doing; each suddenly noticed that his pupils had grown drastically and that he was in fact snarling at the pair. Realizing that Remus was somehow appealing to the beast within himself well before the full moon, James Potter and Sirius Black each grabbed one of Remus' arms in an attempt to drag him away from the situation. Remus, however, broke rather violently free and began running toward Eugene, shortly pouncing upon him and tearing at his flesh with his teeth.

"James and Sirius, fortunately both quick thinkers as well as adept with their wands, together managed to stun Remus, but the damage was done; Eugene was quite seriously injured. Peter Pettigrew had gone to fetch Madam Pomfrey and myself; Eugene was taken back to the hospital wing while Remus was taken to my office, rennervated, interrogated, and was shortly deemed irresponsible for his actions. Nonetheless, I had not yet made the connection between the earlier accident and the incident here; I felt uncomfortable leaving him in the castle until we could come up with an adequate solution, and so I took him down to Hagrid's. I believe you know the story from there."

Teddy was stunned. Whatever he had expected the story to be, that had not been among his options. The shock must have shown on his face, for Dumbledore smiled grimly and asked him, "Had you been expecting something else?"

"Yes!" Teddy exclaimed. "I had been expecting some misplaced guilt for self-defense, like perhaps the boy had attacked him first and he'd retaliated and it had turned out well for dad, but not for the other bloke…"

Dumbledore peered sadly at Teddy. "Yet that would not have brought you the answers you're searching for. Is that really the story you wanted to hear?"

Teddy didn't respond, instead opting to stare at the wall. Everything about the story made sense: being unconsciously compelled to Riley, the feeling of bloodlust… if that really had happened to his dad, it would make sense that the same problem would happen to him. But when would Teddy have come into contact with Riley's blood?

"What happened with the boy who was attacked? Eugene?" Teddy asked suddenly.

"He recovered well. Being attacked by a thirteen-year-old boy is easier to contend with if you happen to be seventeen years old and several inches taller, as was Eugene. Remus was not transformed at the time of attack, so there was no transference. Eugene developed some physical characteristics of a werewolf: a hunchback, bulging eyes; but aside from a lifelong hatred of werewolves, no other permanent damage was done." Dumbledore paused. "Remus and Eugene met again, many years later. As I understand it, it was initially a struggle for Remus to hold himself back, but either he got used to the feeling or learned to suppress it. I daresay Eugene never forgave him for what he did, but as Remus was a rather powerful wizard while Eugene, as I mentioned, was not magically inclined. I believe Eugene revered your father with fear, which must have been a terrible burden on Remus; causing harm to another person because of his condition was perhaps his biggest fear."

Teddy carried on staring at the wall until Dumbledore interrupted his thoughts once more. "If I may offer you some advise, Teddy: leave your father's issues with your father. This one was pertinent to you so I offered you the answers you sought, but were I in your shoes, I would respect Harry's judgement henceforth. I suspect very much that he convinced Madam Pomfrey to tell him what had happened on that occasion, and that he made the decision not to tell you because he feared it would scar the magnificent memory you deserve to have of your father. Remus truly was a great man. It would pain him to know that you are forced to carry his burdens." Dumbledore paused. "With time, like he did, I believe you'll get used to your problems with your friend. I am sorry that this is happening to you, but I hope the answers I was able to provide you with will help you."

Teddy took this as an indication that the conversation was over. "Thank you, Professor," Teddy said quietly, looking Dumbledore's portrait in the eye. Dumbledore smiled tiredly and nodded once before leaning against his frame and making himself comfortable for an apparently well-needed nap. Teddy looked quickly along the line of portraits before quietly letting himself out of the office, shutting the door silently behind him.


	13. Halloween's Haunted

**A/N: **More mysteries! Don't hate me. :(

Gee whiz I love writing this fic.

---

Julia was stifling giggles. Oliver's jaw was slack with shock. Teddy merely smiled.

"What?" asked Winnie. "Why are you all staring at me?"

"Did you look at yourself in the mirror this morning?" Oliver asked, somewhat hysterically. Julia laughed harder.

"Yes," Winnie said stiffly. "I fail to understand what is _so shocking_ about my appearance."

Oliver continued to stare, slack-jawed. Teddy cleared his throat. "I think he's a bit surprised by the fact that you look like you just rolled around in a fireplace."

Winnie looked annoyed. "Did he even bother to read the sign?" she asked, beckoning to the slab of cardboard hanging around her neck.

"I don't think 'Boggart' means anything to him. He's Muggle-born, don't forget." Teddy paused, still amused. "How do you know what a Boggart looks like, anyway?"

"I don't," Winnie shrugged, now a bit less annoyed and looking pityingly at Oliver for being so sheltered. "That's why I'm all black. I'm nothing. Get it? No one's seen me yet."

"So why didn't you just make a sign that said 'nothing'?" Oliver asked, still confused.

"No one wants to be 'nothing' for Hallowe'en, silly," Winnie said, flaunting past them. "Besides, being a-Boggart-before-anyone's-seen-me is ever so much cleverer."

"Uh-huh," Teddy said, rolling his eyes to Julia, who chuckled appreciatively as the quartet wandered into the Great Hall.

"I can't believe none of you dressed up," Winnie said, shaking her head as they sat down. "Hallowe'en is the best day of the year. You are _welcomed_ to be appear completely ridiculous! And none of you took the opportunity. For shame."

"Whereas you, Winnie, who takes the opportunity to _act_ ridiculous on a daily basis, needs an excuse to appear completely ridiculous?" Oliver asked.

"Well, no," Winnie admitted, "but it is better when grown-ups aren't frowning upon you for doing so."

"Have you met the professors here?" Oliver asked. "I think they'll still be frowning upon you for doing so."

"Peh," Winnie said, waving a hand dismissively. "They can stuff it, can't they? It's Hallowe'en for pity's sake. Heeey, how was your date with Dumbledore last night?" Winnie asked suddenly, taking on a completely different tone.

Teddy stared his waffles. "Informative," he said vaguely.

"Unlike you, you mean?" Winnie shot back.

Teddy looked up and blinked at her in annoyance. "Yes, it happened to my dad. Yes, he got over it. Yes, I will to."

"That's it?" Winnie asked as Teddy inconspicuously leaned closer to his waffles, ignoring Riley's scent as he walked by. "No word as to cause or anything?"

Teddy tried to keep the blush out of his cheeks and hair as he stared at his plate. "As long as I get over it, I'm not overly concerned as to the cause."

Winnie stared long and hard at Teddy. "You're lying," she finally said quietly.

Teddy looked up. "No I'm not."

"Yes, you are," she said, just as quietly. "You keep a lot of secrets, Teddy. It's getting very tiresome." Without further ado, Winnie grabbed a piece of toast and a banana and left the table.

Teddy frowned. "Winnie… Winnie!" Teddy stood up, but Winnie didn't stop. "Oh come on now, let's not…" But Winnie left the Great Hall without turning back.

Oliver clapped Teddy good-heartedly on the back as he sat back down in his seat. "Don't worry about her, mate."

"You're not upset that I keep some things quiet?"

Oliver shook his head pensively. "You've got this somewhat unfortunate past that you're slowly trying to figure out in reverse based on things that are happening to you now. I get that you want to figure things out for yourself. I also get that you're sort of a quiet bloke, so I'm not going to push you for information you don't feel comfortable giving. The thing about Winnie is that she wants to know everything the world has to offer, including everything about one of us. Her curiosity is insatiable, and she'll never be happy until you let her in."

Teddy smiled, appreciating Oliver's rational matter. "Thanks, mate," he said, clapping him on the back in return.

Oliver waved a hand dismissively. "Just keep this in mind, though: you and Julia both seem to have some secrets, and it's alienating us. It's like this split is developing: you and Julia, me and Winnie. Which is fine, but only up to a point. I'm trusting that you're going to let us in eventually, but I don't think Winnie thinks that's going to happen. Just be careful about how many secrets you two keep, all right?" Oliver, too, grabbed several pieces of toast and stood from his seat. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have an invisible Gobbart or something to hurry after."

Teddy and Julia sat for several minutes, Teddy dejectedly staring at his plate and Winnie turning oatmeal around on her spoon. Shortly, however, the ghosts came streaming suddenly through the walls, cackling happily about Hallowe'en—all except Nearly Headless Nick, who floated gloomily over to the Gryffindor table and sat down across from Teddy and Julia, sighing heavily.

"Good morning, Nick," Teddy said in an attempt to sound cheerful.

"For some, perhaps," Nick sighed.

Teddy raised his eyebrows. "You sound about as bummed out as we are, and we just got told we were alienating our best friends."

Nick's glassy eyes looked somewhat confusedly at Teddy, looking at either side of him before lightly shaking his head and regarding Teddy solemnly. "Today, my dear boy, is my _deathday_."

Teddy mentally rolled his eyes. Harry had fortunately warned him about this one. "Oh… I'm sorry," Teddy whispered. Julia nodded sympathetically beside him.

Nick waved a hand as though they were being too kind. "Alas… I'm holding a party in memoriam this evening, and I'd appreciate it ever so much if you and your friends would make an appearance."

Teddy tried his best to look crestfallen. "Oh, Nick, I'd love to, but—"

"But you'd rather come here and have your feast with all of your _living friends_… I understand," Nick said, downcast, looking at his transparent hands.

Teddy tried desperately not to sigh in frustration. He got the impression that Nick did this yearly with his favourite Gryffindors. Harry once said that he suspected having the living at Nick's party every Hallowe'en was a tradition, watching them stumble around in search of digestible food. "Actually Nick, it's not that. It's just that I've got tons of school work to do, I'm sorry."

Teddy glanced at Julia, nudging her with his elbow. She looked up at Nick sadly and said, "Yes. Er, me too."

If Nick noticed Julia's awkward response, he gave no notice. Instead, he looked strangely at Teddy's elbow. "Is your arm quite all right?"

"Hm? Oh, yes. A twitch."

"I see," said Nick suspiciously, but seemed to suddenly forget about it and brightened up. "Are you on your way to class?"

"Yes, actually," Teddy said, looking at his uneaten waffle and getting up from the table, happy for an excuse to get away from Nick.

"Excellent! I'll walk you there, give us a chance to catch up. How's Harry?"

Teddy clenched his teeth as he and Julia walked out of the Great Hall. "He's fine. Haven't heard too much from him lately, but I imagine he's busy."

"Oh yes, I would think so. Have you heard about the resurgent Goblins in Kent?"

Julia giggled. "No, I haven't," Teddy admitted.

"It's quite an issue, I would imagine the Aurors have their hands full with it."

"Why are they resurgent?" asked Julia.

"Gringotts, of course, is all up in arms," Nick continued, ignoring Julia's question. "Some of the Goblins there are expressing their support, while others of course completely deplore it. Goblins are a strange folk."

Teddy's gears were cranking. "Hold on… could this have anything to do with the House-Elf dispute here? I mean, I think I remember Harry or Hermione or someone saying that Goblins and House-Elves are third cousins twice removed or something…"

Nick nodded pensively. "Second cousins thrice removed, but you're quite right, there might very well be a connection. I can't think of…" Nick suddenly trailed off as he stopped in his tracks and looked at a point just behind Teddy with interest. "Well, hello there. You're new."

Teddy cocked an eyebrow and turned around in a circle to try and see what Nick was looking at. "Er… Nick?"

"Why… what is that around…" Nick peered closer at the invisible spot and suddenly recoiled quickly, looking horrified. "Oh. Oh my."

"Nick, what's going on?" Teddy asked, stepping forward with concern.

Nick's gaze returned to Teddy's face. He looked, if possible, even whiter than usual. "Nothing. Nothing to worry about. Sorry, I've just remembered, I've got to, er…" and without finishing his explanation, Nick turned quickly and disappeared through the corridor wall.

Teddy seethed frustratedly. "All right, I know it's Hallowe'en, but that was just a little _too_ strange. Has the entire wizarding world gone bananas?"

"Very possibly," came Oliver's voice from behind him. "Teddy Lupin, for instance, has now been sighted talking to himself."

Teddy stopped on the spot and spun around. "Julia was just here!"

"Now he's spinning on the spot and shouting things," Oliver continued to commentate to Winnie, who was trying hard not to look amused.

Teddy stared at the pair, looking unimpressed. "Am I the only one concerned with the state of chaos everything is falling into?"

"No," Oliver said, grinning, "but you're fun to egg on. Isn't he Winnie?"

"Yes. If only I had some actual eggs to throw at him," she said, pointedly not looking at Teddy.

Teddy ignored the pair and continued to peer around the corridor for signs of Julia. Finally he spotted her standing solemnly beside a suit of armour at the end of the corridor. His eyes lit up as he started off toward her. He opened his mouth to call out to her as he came within a few metres, but a passing seventh-year broke his line of vision. Teddy's call echoed in the empty corridor; Julia had disappeared while the burly student passed in front of him. Teddy stopped dead in his tracks.

Winnie and Oliver caught up with him. "Oh, come on Teds, let's not fight anymore, I'm sorry for what I said, obviously it's your prerogative, blah blah blah, let's be friends," Winnie spouted off, poking Teddy in the back.

Teddy didn't move. He continued to stare at the spot where Julia had stood, not allowing himself to blink. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand on end; he clenched his jaw and exhaled hard from deep inside his throat.

Oliver and Winnie stepped back. "Teddy, mate, I'm sure she didn't mean to make you that mad, there's no need to _growl _at her—"

"Oliver," Winnie said seriously, holding up a hand to silence Oliver. She watched Teddy as closely as he watched the suit of armour. "Teddy, I need you to look at me for a moment, please. Stay calm. Just look."

Teddy was breathing deeply. Emotion pounded through his veins, clouding his thoughts. He clenched his fists and fought to keep himself controlled as he shifted his gaze slowly over to Winnie.

The tiny girl stared deep into his eyes for several seconds, her expression determined and unchanging, before she finally stepped back, grabbed Oliver by the arm, and turned and sprinted as quickly as she could down the corridor and around the corner.

Teddy deflated and swallowed hard. Anger and frustration gave way to sadness. His neck stopped prickling; his hands unclenched, and the boy, ignoring his welling eyes, turned and trudged, alone, to class.

Teddy paid no attention to Flitwick's lecture. Despite his fair proficiency at Charms, Teddy was distracted and failed to make a single object levitate all class.

He wasn't sure what had just happened, but for the rest of the day, he was haunted by the terrified glance Winnie had shot behind her just before she'd turned the corner at the other end of the corridor.


	14. Teddy's Confession

**A/N:** This is a short update. I've had this written for months, and I have more written, but I'm making little progress on it so I figured I'd give you _something_ to chew on for a while. It's pretty much a filler, because it was becoming difficult to have Julia disappearing, Teddy wolfing out and Winnie being angry with Teddy at the same time. Progress = difficult.

The next chapter has some character development on Winnie. I'm really into writing original fiction right now -- hence my neglected account here -- but I still like what I'm working on, and won't abandon it. Thanks for your patience, gentle readers. :)

* * *

Teddy didn't see much of Winnie and Oliver for a full week. They were forced to work together in classes, but Winnie kept a straight composure and spoke only if necessary, opting to work mostly through Julia and Oliver. Oliver, on the other hand, maintained civil relations with Teddy, though he seemed to watch him intently and make friendly and definitively fake smiles a lot. Outside of class, Oliver would wave; Winnie opted to pretend like Teddy wasn't there, and often sat at the other end of the Gryffindor table.

"I don't even know what I've done wrong," Teddy said frustratedly, kicking a rock as he and Julia walked around the grounds.

Julia glance at him sadly. "She isn't angry, Teddy, she's just scared. She doesn't know what to make of… whatever it was she saw."

Teddy glanced over at Julia. "Do you talk to her at all?"

Julia nodded pensively. "Once Karen falls asleep, we usually talk for a while. Usually about small things, and usually only for a few minutes. We're not that close, really." Julia shrugged. "Lately she's been asking questions like, have I noticed anything weird about you, or have you told me anything about this secret she's convinced you're keeping…" Julia shook her head. "I usually maintain that I don't know what she means and that I've never noticed anything off about you, but she seems to see through that."

"She's good at that," Teddy muttered. He reached an arm around Julia's shoulder and squeezed. "Thanks for keeping my secret, anyway." He paused. "And you know I'll return the favour anytime," he said pointedly.

Julia paled and stared at her feet as they walked. She opened her mouth several times, but the rest of the walk was made in silence.

--

Teddy heard the door open and close. "Hey," said Winnie quietly, leaning against the wall.

Teddy's eyes widened. "You know the girl's loo is right around the corner," he said pointedly, making himself decent before turning around.

She crossed her arms. "We need to talk," she said.

"Uh… do we need to talk in here?"

Winnie merely stared. "Are you a werewolf, Teddy?" she asked evenly, looking him straight in the eyes for the first time in weeks.

Teddy's eyes widened. Frantically he ducked down to check that the stalls were empty. Standing erect, he fought to keep his hair and face a neutral colour as he attempted to regain his composure. "What makes you think that?"

"Oh, I don't know," she said airily, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Only the fact that you mysteriously disappear on the full moon, the fact that you crave raw steaks every so often, and, oh yeah, on Hallowe'en your eyes dilated and completely changed colour, your hair stood straight out on end in a way that humans can't manage, you emitted a subhuman growl…" Winnie's voice cracked, and she lost her composure. "Teddy, are you or are you not a werewolf!?" she yelled, half-angered, half-pleading.

Her voice echoed throughout the bathroom. Teddy was terrified that someone outside would hear them; he waited and watched the door expectantly, but no one came in. "I am not a werewolf," he finally said quietly.

"Are you sure?" she asked dully, clearly disbelieving.

Teddy frowned. "I am the son of a werewolf," he said softly. "My biological father was a werewolf from childhood."

Whatever Winnie was expecting, that wasn't it. Although her expression remained harsh, her eyes softened. "Is… does that…" she cleared her throat. "What does that mean for you?"

Teddy shrugged one shoulder, making sure to maintain eye contact despite the overwhelming desire to stare at his feet. "I don't know," he whispered. "I honestly don't. That's what I'm trying to figure out, that's… that's why I had to talk to Dumbledore. He was the only person who knew about dad's, ah, 'furry little problem' when he was at Hogwarts, and I had to figure out if I could have somehow… inherited some of his traits." Teddy shrugged again, finally allowing his gaze to drop to the floor. "I guess I did."

Silence hung in the room. "So, what, then, you're like part wolf? Already got your credentials for Hunting 101 and Advanced Smelling?"

Teddy scowled at Winnie's poor reception of his secret. "Something like that," he spat back.

Winnie paused. "Can you control it?" she asked after a while.

Teddy looked up. "Did it look like I could control it?"

Winnie and Teddy held eye contact for a few moments, letting the echoes settle around them. Winnie swallowed hard and let her guard down; Teddy noticed tears glistening in her eyes. "Teddy, I was scared to hell that day," she whispered.

Teddy swallowed despite the lump in his throat. "I know," he whispered back. "I'm sorry."

Winnie bit her lower lip. "Well, it doesn't appear to be your fault, so I suppose I can't be angry with you anymore now can I?"

Teddy hazarded a shy smile. Winnie laughed thickly and strode quickly across the tiled floor, throwing her arms around Teddy's neck. "It was horrible not talking to you," she said into his shoulder.

"You too, Wins," Teddy said happily. The pair broke apart. "But… you're not scared, or going to shun me for life, or…"

Winnie looked at him pityingly. "I'm scared, Teddy, but I think you are too. You're obviously not dangerous _on purpose_, so I can hardly shun you for life and still be rational, and we both know I'm only the most rational person in the whole world…"

Teddy laughed as the friends walked out of the washroom together. "Ah, I think you're confusing yourself for me, actually."

Winnie grinned. "Po-tay-to, po-tah-to. Although I daresay I'm going to miss the mystery that is Teddy Lupin," she admitted as she held the door open for a fourth-year, who looked severely confused at the tiny girl leaving the men's room.

"It's hardly solved," Teddy said, shrugging. "Besides, what set me off was the Julia mystery. I find that much more interesting than my own mystery." Teddy raised his eyebrows. "Say… do you guys talk at all?"

Winnie smiled. "Nice try, mister. Julia already told me you talked about me, I know what you're getting at. But no, the most I get out of her is that she's scared and doesn't want to talk about it, so I let it go."

"Oh, sure," Teddy said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "You'll let _her_ alone…"

"Please. Sneaky-girl, or wolf-boy? Which would you choose to pursue?"

Teddy flinched. "Keep your voice down, will you?" he hissed, then changed the subject away from himself. "I don't think she's being sneaky, Winnie. I think something else is going on here."

Winnie shrugged. "Like what? It's not like people just disappear."

Teddy opened his mouth to object, but couldn't think of a rational objection, and so changed his mind. "I suppose," he admitted.

"Unless, of course, you're me, and the Quidditch match against Ravenclaw is tomorrow. _Then_ you might just disappear."

Teddy slapped his forehead. "I completely forgot! I'll absolutely be there," he added hastily. Winnie smiled.

"I would hope so," she said happily, ruffling up his hair. "Couldn't play properly without my Metamorphmagus cheering me on now could I?"

"Winnie for pity's sake, _keep your voice down_," Teddy hissed.

Winnie flinched. "Sorry. I'll be good."

Teddy pursed his lips. Perhaps telling Winnie his secrets wasn't the best plan.


	15. Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw

A/N: Bit of an awkward ending, but it was important that I get over this block. I know where to take the story from here, which is generally helpful to writing it. Enjoy! :)

* * *

Oliver's face showed confusion. "But… your dad was a good bloke, right?"

"Of course he was," Teddy responded, somewhat affronted. "Not all people with furry little problems are malicious beasts like Greyback." The trio was sitting in the stands of the Quidditch pitch. They'd chosen something of an awkward angle for viewing purposes, but Teddy had agreed that Oliver should know, especially since he was Muggle-born and probably didn't have the pre-established stigma against werewolves.

"Right," he said slowly. "So… if you have an FLP, you're only dangerous on… that one day, and even then you can take a potion keep your regular mind… right?" he asked, turning to Julia-the-potions-expert.

Julia smiled and nodded curtly. "Right."

Oliver's eyes narrowed. "But you don't have an FLP, just aspects of those with an FLP, and so while you get sick on… on that one day, you don't need a potion and are essentially a safe bloke."

Teddy smiled grimly. "I hope."

Oliver nodded for a long time. "Sometimes I wonder if this whole wizard thing is just an elaborate hallucination and I'm actually just sick with malaria in the Muggle world," he said lightly.

Teddy smiled with amusement. "Believe me, it's a lot to absorb even when you've been in the world all your life," he admitted.

Oliver opened his mouth to respond, but the crowd stood suddenly and began cheering as fourteen figures in scarlet and blue walked out onto the pitch. Madam Hooch instructed the captains to shake hands; finally she blew the whistle, and fifteen coloured streaks launched into the air.

"Go Winnie!" shouted Teddy and Oliver simultaneously from their position behind the Gryffindor goal. The small girl did a quick lap around the goals as the Quaffle fell into Gryffindor hands and grinned nervously at the trio before hovering in front of the centre goal and paying better attention to the game.

As the game went on, Teddy had to note that Winnie was extremely good at playing Keeper. She was unsteady on her broom, but had reflexes like nothing he'd seen short of professional. "Winnie's quite good, isn't she?" Teddy asked.

"She ought to be," came a voice from behind them. "I gather she's breathed nothing but Quidditch since birth."

Teddy, Julia, and Oliver turned to regard the pair behind them. Teddy recognized the girl who spoke as a Hogwarts student, but the woman beside her looked to be about Harry's age or older. "You lot must be Win's posse."

Oliver cocked an eyebrow. "I don't know if we're her posse, per se."

"Little group of smart-ass friends, whatever," said the blonde, tossing her hair back. The woman beside her paid no attention to the trio, instead opting to watch the game attentively. "You must be Oliver, I can see why you and the brat get along so well."

Oliver smirked. "You must be Frieda."

The blonde nodded with a smirk that matched Oliver's. "Glad she's mentioned me. Mum, these are Winnie's friends that she never shuts up about."

"Frieda," said her mother distractedly, "I'm watching the game."

Frieda rolled her eyes. "Sor-ry." She leaned forward. "I'm the deviant of the family. Mum's always been an avid fan, and then of course there's dad…"

"Winnie's dad plays Quidditch, doesn't he?" Teddy asked suddenly, remembering what Julia had told him—something about how she lived up to her name?

Frieda nodded. "He played professionally. Winnie worships him… got his old robes hanging in her room." Frieda shook her head. "I kinda get the hero-worship thing, but I can't say I get Quidditch. But it's as you say, she's got something of a knack for the game. Do what you love and love what you do. That's what dad did, anyway." She smiled at the trio and leaned back beside her mother, who was still deeply immersed in the game.

Teddy found it a bit odd that Frieda was speaking in the past-tense – it was as though she assumed the group of friends knew something that they didn't. However, the conversation was obviously over, so Teddy, Julia, and Oliver turned back to watch the game.

Gryffindor was tied 30-30, which was actually quite good considering the extent to which they were being outplayed. The Ravenclaw Chasers kept possession of the ball more often than not. While Winnie was doing backflips to keep the Quaffle from going through the Gryffindor hoops, the Gryffindor beaters seemed to be having a time of hitting the Bludgers toward Ravenclaws rather than toward their own teammates. After Winnie gave the Quaffle a great kick toward the Ravenclaw end, Teddy was able to catch a glimpse of her face as she repositioned herself in front of the centre hoop. She looked quite angry and, judging by her gesticulations, seemed to be talking to herself.

"What are those ruddy Chasers doing?" wondered Mrs Wood indignantly. "The blonde's all right, but the other two seem to think this is a holiday. They're barely playing at all."

"They look new," Frieda commented. "I know Sam, she's a year ahead of me and the captain, but most of the team either graduated or quit after the last year-end match against Slytherin. I'd have quit, too," she added frankly. "It was brutal. Pleased I'm not in Gryffindor, that's all I've got to say."

The game went on for a while. Soon the score was 70-60 for Ravenclaw. Winnie was sweating profusely, despite the crisp fall air. At one point after Gryffindor committed a foul, Sam flew immediately over to Winnie and began chatting with her. Winnie seemed to be explaining something quite angrily to Sam – Teddy could hear her shout all the way from the stands – and Sam nodded, clapping a hand on her shoulder consolingly and getting out of the way so Ravenclaw could take their penalty shot. Winnie sighed heavily, then pulled off an excellent save from the penalty shot and kicked the Quaffle back to Sam.

Suddenly, two figures swerving above Winnie on their brooms took a sudden dive. Even from his distant position, Teddy could see that the figures were racing for the Golden Snitch, hovering just above Winnie's head. He could also tell that Winnie was concentrating so fiercely on Sam's swerves and dives on her way to the Ravenclaw net that she had no idea that two witches roughly twice her size were racing toward her head from above.

Julia realized what was bound to happen at the same time Teddy did. She clung to Teddy's arm and looked desperately at the boys beside her, who were both transfixed, waiting for the collision, not knowing what to do. Mrs Wood was muttering, "oh, dear, no," and even Frieda seemed to understand that this probably wasn't going to end well. As the crowd burst into elation at Sam's successful single-handed campaign to the goal, the Seekers reached out their hands and began shouting at Winnie to get out of the way…

It happened very quickly. The Ravenclaw Seeker caught hold of the Snitch and pulled out of the dive just as Winnie looked up. The Gryffindor Seeker closed her hand around Winnie's wind-swept hair and, unable to stop herself, ripped Winnie from her broom. The surprise weight brought the Seeker off her own broom as well, and the two of them hurled toward the ground, flailing their arms madly…

Teddy was suddenly aware that he had gotten to his feet and was running around the edge of the stadium toward where the Professors were seated together. He heard Mrs Wood squeal behind him, but he kept running. He had to get to someone, to bring their attention to the falling pair – but as he ran, the crowd was becoming quite aware of what was happening. Through the cheers of triumph came screams as people pointed at the pair of scarlet robes twisting madly in an attempt to right themselves before they hit the ground head-first.

Someone was sprinting out onto the field. He shouted a couple of words, and Winnie and the Seeker seemed to fall the remaining ten feet in slow motion. Teddy skidded to a halt and leant closer to see who had slowed down the fall. Professor Everard watched as the girls hit the Quidditch pitch with a sickening _crunch_, then rushed forward and knelt over them as Madam Hooch dismounted her broom a short way away and hurried over.

Oliver, Julia, Frieda, and Mrs Wood had hurried after Teddy and now crowded around him. "Is Winnifred all right?" squealed Mrs Wood, her hand covering her mouth in apprehension.

Teddy didn't respond. Professor McGonagall had now joined Professor Everard and Madam Hooch, and the three of them blocked the girls from view altogether. Sam the captain came over and hesitantly spoke to McGonagall, but McGonagall must have replied sharply, because Sam raised her hands in the air and backed away. Finally the trio seemed to reach a consensus; they stood erect. Everard and McGonagall conjured stretchers and levitated the girls onto them. Mrs Wood groaned woefully; neither Winnie nor the Seeker was moving, but the extent of their injuries was not obvious from so high in the stands.

Professor McGonagall marched forward into the middle of the pitch as Everard took floated the stretchers out of sight toward the castle. The crowd was now entirely silent, peering apprehensively after the fallen pair of Gryffindors. "Ravenclaw have won the match. You are dismissed," she said pointedly, eyebrows raised. Somewhat reluctantly, the crowd began to file out of the stands, the rumble of conversation quite loud. McGonagall followed Everard in a half-run.

"Come on," Teddy mumbled to the others, tearing down the corridor in an attempt to beat the crowd up to the castle. The other four hurried behind him, no one bothering to ask where he was going. He wove his way through the crowd and finally burst through, tearing up the stairs, through the Clock Tower, and into the fourth-floor corridor which led to the Hospital Wing.

"Professor," said Teddy breathlessly. McGonagall was about to open the door to the Hospital Wing and turned around to regard Teddy.

"Lupin," she said, not without exasperation. "It should not come as a surprise to you that you cannot come in."

"Why not?" Teddy asked innocently, still quite short of breath. Oliver, Julia, and Frieda had now caught up with Teddy; Mrs Wood trailed not a far way behind.

"Minerva!" she cried as she approached. "Minerva, is she all right?"

McGonagall's face softened immediately. "I don't know," she said finally. "Mr Lupin here is preventing me from finding out. Come in," she said brusquely, opening the door to the ward. "Not you," she clarified sternly to Teddy, Oliver, and Julia.

"What about me, Professor? She's my sister," Frieda implored.

"I'm sorry, Ms Wood. No students." McGonagall and Mrs Wood disappeared behind the large wooden door, which magically locked itself behind them.

Teddy, Oliver, Frieda, and Julia stood staring at the door for a few moments. Then Oliver gave a light-hearted sigh and fished a small ball of skin-coloured dough from his pocket. "Well!" he said pleasantly, then flung the ball out, exposing the full length of the Extendable Ear. But, it seemed, McGonagall had seen this coming; neither Oliver, Frieda, Julia, or Teddy were able to overhear anything being said in the ward.

"Nothing to be done, I suppose," reasoned Frieda, pale-faced. "Come on, you three. McGonagall's sure to tell us when we can see her."

Oliver and Julia nodded and turned away with Frieda with a last glance at the door to the Hospital Wing. Teddy lingered for a moment, torn between his mad plots to get in and the voice of reason which was telling him to go with Frieda. In the end, much to Teddy's dismay, the voice of reason won. He trudged down to the Great Hall with a profound sense of worry settled deeply in his stomach.

*

It was several hours later by the time Teddy heard anything about how Winnie was doing. Frieda chased after them after dinner, a smile across her face.

"Winnie's okay!" she exclaimed. Teddy felt the relief wash over him as he exchanged grins with Julia and Oliver. "I'm just off to visit her now, I thought you'd want to come."

They found Winnie quite well. She was sitting up in bed eating her dinner eagerly. Her mother sat by her side, apparently torn between amusement and worry. Madam Pomfrey rushed between her and the only other girl in the ward – the Gryffindor Seeker, who was also looking well and was chatting animatedly with Winnie and her mother.

"Hey, you lot!" Winnie said cheerfully as she caught sight of them. "Wondered where you were."

"McGonagall wouldn't let us in. Are you okay?" asked Teddy immediately.

"Good as new, Teds. Madam Pomfrey insists that I stay here for another few hours to make sure all my bones have mended properly…" Teddy frowned and opened his mouth, but Winnie waved a hand. "Pur-lease. I'm fine. Aren't I fine, mummy?"

"She's fine," Mrs Wood confirmed, smiling. As her smile faded, however, a dark look of concern replaced itself on her face.

"Honestly, I'm more choked about the game than the fall. Demzella, mum, and I were just discussing the invariably poor tactics executed by our dear Bludgers and Chasers."

"Dreadful," Demzella confirmed beside her.

"Don't know when I've been so angry," Winnie said thickly through a spoonful of chocolate pudding.

"We noticed you fussing a bit," Oliver said, beaming now that he could see for himself that Winnie was in good health. "The captain came and had a chat with you to calm you down a bit…"

"Calm me down? She was angrier than I was! We just sort of decided to take the game into our own hands, forget what we'd practiced, and let Demzella do her job and catch the Snitch."

"I'm so sorry," Demzella said immediately in a low voice, looking at Winnie with an expression of profound guilt. Teddy got the impression that she had already apologized to Winnie several times, because Winnie waved it off and gave her a stern look.

"Sam's already been in, she said she had a row with the rest of the team once we'd gone off," Winnie continued. "She said they're either going to have to shape up or she's going to have to form a new team. Bloody dreadful flying. She came in all pale, concerned that her only two decent players were out of commission for the season. But she needn't have worried. You know," she said slowly to Teddy, "if she does hold another set of tryouts, you should try out for the other positions. Beater and Chaser, I mean. You'd stand a fair chance, I would think."

Teddy's heart lightened at the prospect, but he gave a modest shrug. "I don't know. Seeker's my position, really."

"You never know," said Mrs Wood suddenly. "I thought I was a decent Seeker, but I played better as Chaser once I had a bit of training under me."

Teddy raised his eyebrows. "You play Quidditch?"

Mrs Wood smiled sadly. "Played," she clarified. "Haven't picked up a broom in years. Not since…" She trailed off and looked sadly at the floor. Winnie suddenly looked a bit alarmed and dug into her pudding rather intently, but Mrs Wood shook her head and didn't express her thought. "Played with your godfather here at Hogwarts, actually. Now _there_ was a natural-built Seeker. He could have played for England."

Winnie looked at her mother curiously as Teddy's eyebrows shot up with surprise. "You knew Harry at school?"

"Oh, yes." Winnie's jaw dropped; this tidbit of information was obviously news to her. "He was only a year below me. Started playing Quidditch the same year I did. Cracking captain, too. But he had a destiny to follow, I suppose."

"Mother!" hissed Winnie behind her. "Why did you never tell me you played Quidditch with Harry Potter?"

"I rather thought you'd have gotten the gist!" Mrs Wood said scoldingly. "You knew your father played with Harry, and you knew I played with your father, so –"

Winnie's eyes looked to the ceiling as she mentally overlapped the timelines. Her face slowly lit up as she beamed at her mother.

"I can't believe it!" she breathed. "Tell me _everything_!"

Laughing, the visitors pulled up chairs and listened to Katie Wood tell hours of anecdotes about Harry's Quidditch days.


End file.
